HISTORY 


or 


THE  WHIG   PARTY, 


OR 


SOME  OE  ITS  MAIN  FEATURES; 


WITH 


A  HURRIED  GLANCE  AT  THE  FORMATION  OF  PARTIES  IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES,  AND  THE  OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY 

OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  PARTIES  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME,  ETC.  ETC. 


R.  McKINLEY   ORMSBY. 


"  It  should  be  the  peculiar  care  of  Great  Britain  to  foster  divisions  between 
the  North  and  South."  JOHN  HENRY,  the  British  Emissary. 


BOSTON: 

CROSBY,  NICHOLS    &    COMPANY. 
1859. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

R.   McKINLEY    ORMSBY, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Vermont. 


PRINTED  BT 
C.     IS  AN!)    &    AVEKT. 


Stereotyped    by 
HOBAUT    &    BOBBINS, 

NU.'aND   TYPE  AND    STEREOT1PS   IOUNE 


PREFACE. 


THE  object  of  the  writer  of  these  hasty  sketches 
has  been  to  give  the  outlines  of  the  principal 
parties  that  have  existed  in  the  United  States 
to  the  present  day,  and  notice  the  more  impor- 
tant and  leading  measures  of  the  various  admin- 
istrations of  the  general  government.  Of  the 
administrations  prior  to  that  of  President  Jack- 
son he  speaks  according  to  the  impressions  he 
has  received  from  reading  and  tradition  ;  but  of 
Che  politics  since  Jackson's  day,  with  which  he 
has  been  contemporary,  he  speaks  from  personal 
observation,  and  gives  his  own  views  as  to  pub- 
lic men  and  measures.  He  is  aware  that  his 
outlines  are  very  imperfect,  and  in  many  things 
may  be  erroneous.  He  has  had  no  access  to 
libraries,  nor  public  documents ;  and  his  statis- 

BS46317 


IV  PREFACE. 

tics  are  sometimes  given  from  general  recol- 
lection, and  are  but  approximations  to  accuracy. 
But  feeling  that  some  history  of  the  parties  of 
this  country  is  needed,  he  has  the  temerity  to 
offer  this  till  its  place  shall  be  supplied  by  one 
more  reliable  and  satisfactory. 

THE  AUTHOK. 
BRADFORD,  Vermont,  Aug.,  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION, page  ix 

CHAPTER  I.  —  Political  parties  prior  to  and  during  the  Revolution.  —  The  section- 
alism which  caused  the  separation. — The  conservatism  and  policy  of  William 
Pitt,  the  elder.  —  The  effect  of  the  Revolution  oa  parties.  —  The  incongruity  of  the 
different  colonies, 13 

CHAPTER  II.  —  The  persistence  of  England  in  her  revenue  acts  unites  the  colonies. 
—  Action  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  —  The  formation  of  the  union  by  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution.  —  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  union.  —  Probable 
results  in  case  there  had  been  no  union.  — The  sacrifice  of  the  large  and  gain  of 
the  smaller  states  by  the  union.  —  Constitutional  convention.  — The  part  taken  by 
Virginia  in  establishing  the  union, 21 

CHAPTER  III.  — The  elements  of  political  parties  developed  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Washington. —  Method  of  electing  the  president  by  the  college  of  electors 
provided  by  the  Constitution,  and  the  failure  of  the  system.  —  The  effect  of  the 
French  revolution  in  creating  parties  in  the  United  States.  —  Some  of  the  causes 
of  the  failure  of  the  French  revolution, 29 

CHAPTER  IV.  —  The  American  government  formed  on  the  principles  of  the  Eng- 
lish constitution,  modified  to  suit  our  republican  condition.  —  Narrow  escape  from 
the  contagion  of  French  Jacobinism.  —  The  Federalists  in  favor  of  the  Constitution 
as  adopted.  —  The  anti-Federalists. — The  Federalists  and  Republicans,  ...  36 

CHAPTER  V.  — Jefferson  the  founder  of  the  Republican  party. —  The  decline  of 
the  Federal  party.  —  Washington's  retirement  and  farewell  address.  —  John 
Adams' election  in  1796.  —  Treatment  of  the  United  States  by  England.  —  Im- 
prCssment  of  seamen.  —  The  neutral  policy  of  the  federal  administration,  etc.,  47 

CHAPTER  VI. — John  Adams'  administration.  —  His  part  in  the  establishment  of 
the  American  constitutions.  —  The  providentially  fortunate  concurrence  of  events 
that  favored  the  freedom  of  America,  and  the  growth  of  her  free  institutions.  — 
Defeat  of  the  Federalists  by  the  Republicans  in  1800.  —  Commercial  prosperity  of 
America  during  the  administration  of  Adams.  —  Jefferson's  policy  as  to  com- 
m-res, 55 

CI1  V  PTF.Il  VII.  — Jefferson's  administration  and  conservatism.  —  Reflections  on  the 
d 'Ctriiie  of  instruction.  —  Foreign  intrigues  in  regard  to  America.  —  European 
nations  d  sir  :,i  her  independence  out  of  fear  for  the  increasing  power  of  England, 
and  were  opposed  to  the  permanence  of  republican  institutions  here  out  of  fear  of 
the  example.  —  Reasons  why  America  has  been  exempt  from  European  inter- 
ference.—  That  the  permanency  of  republicanism  here  must  eventually  subvert 
monarchy  in  Europe  f.'lt  to  be  certain.  —  Republicanism  in  America  only  to  be 
preserved  by  union.  —  Foreigners  will  sooner  see  us  broken  in  pieces  by  leaving  us 
aloae,  than  attempting  our  destruction  by  force, 64 

CHAPTER  VIII.  —  Federal  principles  of  neutrality  continued  by  Jefferson.  —  He 
was  charged  with  partiality  for  France.  —  Party  spirit  of  those  days.  —  The  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana.  —  Resistance  of  British  aggressions. — Violent  opposition  to 
the  administration  in  New  England.  —  Hostility  of  the  North  to  the  South  mani- 
fested.—  Anti-slavery  feeling  in  New  England  in  1796.  —  Vindictive  spirit  of 
Northern  philanthropists  at  the  period  of  the  formation  of  the  government.  — 
What  the  South,  under  the  circumstances,  ought  to  be  tolerated  in  attempting.  — 
Compromises  in  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  slavery.  —  Anti-slavery  in  New 
England  borrowed  from  the  designing  enemies  of  our  country  in  old  England.  — 
England,  on  failing  to  enslave  our  forefathers,  at  once  commenced  teaching  them 

1*  (5) 


VI  CONTENTS. 

the  principles  of  negro  freedom  and  equality.  —  Her  object  in  this. — Effect 
of  her  writers  on  Americans.  —  Abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  it  was  thought, 
would  put  an  end  to  ^lavery  in  the  United  States,  and  render  the  cultivation  of 
cotton  in  the  East  Indies  profitable,  etc., 74 

CHAPTER  IX.  —  Factiousness  of  the  Federal  party,  and  its  opposition  to  the  war- 
measures,  cause  of  its  ruin.  —  Attempt  of  England  to  destroy  American  com- 
merce.—  Impressment  of  seamen  and  their  treatment. — Orders  in  council  and 
French  decrees.  — blockade.  —  Damage  to  American  commerce.  —  French  and 
British  parties  in  the  U.  S.  —  American  commerce  in  the  North.  —  The  Chesa- 
peake affair.  — Embarrassing  condition  of  the  government. —  Jefferson's  course, 
etc., •? 88 

CHAPTER  X.  —  The  protectors  of  New  England  commerce  and  of  the  honor  of  the 
country  found  in  the  South  and  West.  —  The  embargo.  —  The  election  of  Mr. 
Madison.  —  The  destruction  of  commerce  occasioned  by  British  orders  in  council 
charged  to  the  embargo. — Resistance  of  the  embargo  in  New  England.  —  State 
rights  and  nullification  in  Massachusetts.  —  John  Henry  sent  by  England  to  foment 
disunion.  —  His  despatches.  —  The  Erskiue  treaty. —  Non-intercourse.  —  Course  of 
England, 102 

CHAPTER  XI. —England  cooperated  with  New  England  to  render  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Republicans  odious.  —  Enormous  losses  to  American  commerce.  — 
War  declared  June  18,  1812.  —  Course  of  the  Federalists.  —  Men  of  the  twelfth 
Congress.  —  Crawford,  Calhoun,  Randolph,  Clay,  etc., 113 

CHAPTER  XII.  —  Federal  ascendency  in  New  England  and  New  York.  —  Conduct 
of  the  Federalists.  —  Prosecution  of  the  war  embarrassed  by  them.  —  Hartford 
convention.  —  Reverses  at  Detroit  and  on  the  Canadian  frontier.  —  Thirteenth 
Congress.  —  Factiousness  of  the  Federalists.  —  Henry  Clay's  castigation  of  Josiah 
Quincy.  — War  continued.  —  The  Northern  pulpit.  — Triumph  of  American  arms, 
and  the  glory  of  our  naval  triumphs.  —  Peace  of  1814.  —  American  honor  vindi- 
cated, and  her  name  respected  throughout  the  world, 122 

CHAPTER  XIII.  —  The  Federal  party  annihilated,  but  the  measures  of  the  ancient 
Federalists  revived.  — The  navy,  the  bank,  and  the  tariff.  —  Politics  heretofore  had 
been  based  on  the  foreign  policy  of  the  country  ;  after  the  war,  turned  more  on 
domestic  policy.  —  Internal  improvements, 129 

CHAPTER  XIV.  — Mr.  Monroe  elected  in  1816  and  1820.  — Extinction  of  party 
spirit.  —  Monroe's  cabinet.  —  Republicans  support  bank,  internal  improvements, 
tariff,  and  navy.  —  Measures  of  Mr.  Clay.  —  Mr.  Crawford's  presidential  expec- 
tations. —  Henry  Clay's.  —  J.  C.  Calhoun's.  —  Andrew  Jackson's.  —  Tariff  of  1816 
and  1824.  —  Southern  jealousies,  etc., 135 

CHAPTER  XV. — English  policy  and  prosperity. — National  independence.  —  Brit- 
ain dependent  on  America  for  the  raw  material  for  her  manufactures,  without 
which  her  commerce  could  not  exist.  —  This  dependence  forced  the  peace  of  1814. 
—  Her  efforts  to  relieve  herself.  —  Her  Indian  colonies  cannot  compete  with  slave 
labor  in  the  United  States.  —  Her  attempts  to  overthrow  slavery.  —  Slave-trade 
and  anti-slavery.  —  Effect  of  her  anti-slavery  crusade  in  the  United  States.  — 
Missouri  controversy.  —  Anti-slavery  feeling  in  New  England  artificial.  —  Slavery 
a  necessity  to  the  South.  —  The  negro.  —  Negro  servitude  an  instrumentality  in 
the  hands  of  Providence  for  the  civilization  of  the  world.  —  Effect  of  servitude 
upon  the  negro.  —  Right  of  Congress  to  exclude  a  new  state  on  account  of  its 
tolerating  slavery,  etc., 142 

CHAPTER  XVI.  — Spread  of  anti -slavery  views  in  the  North.  —  Influence  of  Eng- 
land. —  Wrhen  made  a  party  question  the  slavery  issues  must  necessarily  render 
parties  sectional.  —  Claim  of  anti-slavery  men.  —  Absurdity  of  the  fear  of  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  new  territories.  —  Cannot  compete  with  white  labor, 
saving  under  the  protection  of  a  Southern  sun.  —  Exclusion  of  slaves  from  terri- 
tories adapted  to  their  labor  cruelty  to  them.  —  White  labor  will  in  time  assume 
its  own  domains,  including  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri.  —  Slavery  limited  to 
its  legitimate  theatre.  — Hypocrisy  of  England.  —  Her  selfish  purposes  and  crafty 
policy.  —  Anti-slavery  misrepresentations  published  in  America  by  British  gold.  — 
The  abominable  wickedness  of  such  false  representations.  —  False  views  of  negroes 
inculcated.  —  Slaveholders  traduced,  etc., 159 


CONTEXTS.  VII 

CHAPTER  XVII.  —John  Quincy  Adams  secretary  of  state  under  Monroe.  —  Desig- 
nated by  Monroe  for  his  successor.  —  Presidential  aspirants.  —  Congressional 
caucus  nominations.  —  Mr.  Crawford's  nomination.  —  Martin  Van  Buren,  Jackson 
and  Calhouu.  —  No  election  by  the  people.  —  Election  by  the  House.  —  Adams 
elected  by  Clay  and  his  friends.  —  Party  spirit  revived.  —  friends  of  Clay  and 
Adams  unite  in  a  party.  —  The  "Whig  party.  —  Jacksonism  and  its  success. — 
Administration  of  J.  Q.  Adams.  —  Change  of  New  England  on  question  of 
tariff.  —  Change  in  the  South.  —  Election  of  Jackson.  —  J.  C.  Calhoun  vice- 
president,  etc., 173 

CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  Party  principles  undergo  a  change.  —  Whigs  adhere  to  the 
measures  of  Madison  and  Monroe. — Jackson  proposes  to  restore  Jeffersonian 
principles.  —  Kitchen  cabinet.  —  Martin  Van  Buren. —  New  tactics.  —  Leading 
Democrats.  —  Whigs.  —  Measures  of  the  Whigs. — Political  idolatry.  —  Causes 
of  Jackson's  success, 185 

CHAPTER  XIX.  —  Mr.  Van  Buren's  supposed  aspirations.  —  Quarrel  between  Cal- 
houn and  Jackson,  how  produced,  and  object.  —  Cabinet  remodelled.  —  Van  Buren 
appointed  minister  to  England,  and  appointment  not  confirmed  by  Senate.  —  Jack- 
eon's  administration.  —  South  Carolina  resists  the  tariff.  —  Position  of  that  state 
on  the  question  of  secession.  —  Debate  in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  and  Webster's  reply  to 
Col.  Hayne.  —  Daniel  Webster  and  his  character.  —  His  demolition  of  the  nullifi- 
cation and  higher-law  doctrine,  etc., 195 

CHAPTER  XX.  —  Effect  of  Jackson's  election  on  the  protective  system.  —  Clay 
ambitious  for  the  presidency.  —  He  had  forced  the  tariff  system  as  an  issue  on 
Jackson.  —  Webster's  ambition.  — Jackson  did  not  neglect  his  opponents.  —  Whig 
national  convention,  Dec.,  1831.  —  Party  platform.  —  Clay  candidate.  —  Campaign 
of  1832.  —  United  States  Bank  question.  —  Jackson  reflected.  —  Van  Buren  vice- 
president,  etc., 209 

CHAPTER  XXI.  —  South  Carolina  nullification  ordinance.  —  The  higher-law  fanat- 
icism of  South  Carolina  considered.  —  The  resolution  of  a  people  to  resist  a  law 
of  the  land  an  evidence  of  the  want  of  a  Christian  spirit.  — The  approval  of  the 
individual  not  necessary  to  render  a  law  binding  on  his  conscience.  —  Exemption 
from  the  force  of  the  laws  of  society  by  appeal  to  higher  laws  a  badge  of  Pagan- 
ism. —  The  American  doctrine,  etc., 218 

CHAPTER  XXII. —  South  Carolina  ordinance  too  late.— The  Me  of  the  tariff 
settled  by  the  election.  —  Jackson's  course  in  regard  to  South  Carolina.  —  Sustained 
by  Webster.  —  Course  of  Calhoun.  —  Compromise  act. — Revolution  of  measures 
during  Jackson's  administration.  —  His  administration  further  considered. — 
This  country  no  foreign  or  domestic  policy.  — True  policy  for  us.  —  Excess  of  im- 
ports, and  effect.  —  Commerce  without  manufactures  will  exhaust  the  country.  — 
Without  the  labor  employed  on  the  raw  material  obtained  from  the  United  States, 
British  commerce  would  be  comparatively  small.  —  Folly  of  exporting  our  raw 
material  to  build  up  a  rival,  when  it  might  give  America  the  monopoly  of  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  —  British  system.  —  Her  ambition  to  produce  the  raw 
material.  —  The  insane  idea  of  the  South  that  England  is  to  be  her  only  market 
for  cotton  suicidal  to  the  country,  etc., 227 

CHAPTER  XXIII.  —  Mistaken  policy  of  the  United  States.  —  Our  superior  advan- 
tages for  supplying  the  trade  of  the  world.  —  Having  the  raw  material,  we  could 
absolutely  command  that  trade.  —  Expense  of  England  for  cotton.  —  The  employ- 
ment it  gives  her  people.  — How  she  pays  us  for  it.  — To  what  she  is  indebted  for 
her  commercial  superiority.  —  The  folly  of  America.  —  British  profits  on  our  raw 
cotton.  —  Her  exports.  —  Her  preaching  and  practice  in  regard  to  free  trade.  — 
Our  sectional  quarrels  ruinous. — Interest  of  all  sections  the  same. — Unless  the 
South  soon  secure  a  market  for  her  cotton  in  the  North,  by  helping  to  build  up 
manufactories  that  may  consume  her  crops,  she  may  find  it  too  late.  —  England 
an  enemy  of  the  South.  —  Sho  encourages  secession  or  disunion,  that  would  either 
render  that  section  a  colony  of  England,  or  overthrow  slave-labor. —  Probable  effect 
of  a  dismemberment,  etc., 248 


VIII  CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. — Power  of  ideas.  —  Commercial  superiority  of  England,  hovr 
attained  and  preserved.  —  Advantages  of  America  seen  by  England. —  Her 
policy  in  regard  to  the  United  States.  —  Disunion  the  only  possible  means  of 
preventing  this  country  from  eventually  enjoying  the  trade  now  enjoyed  by  Eng- 
land.—  Her  schemes.  —  Her  slavery  question.  —  Her  sacrifices  in  the  "West 
Indies. — Her  labors  injurious  to  the  negro. — Alison  on  emancipation  in  the 
West  Indies.  —  Missionary  movement  in  the  West  Indies.  —  Civilization  of 
negroes  arrested  by  emancipation. — Effect  of  West  Indian  emancipation  on  the 
United  States.  —  Simultaneous  efforts  of  British  abolitionists  in  the  United  States. 

—  llesult  not  the  same  as  in  the  West  Indies,  and  the  reasons.  —  Incendiary  pub- 
lications and  petitions  in  1835  and  1836.  —  Anti-slavery  operations  of  those  days 
instigated  abroad.  —  Course  of  Southern  men  in  those  days. — Remarks  of  Mr. 
Clay  on  the  objects  of  the  abolitionists.  —  New  England  duped  by  Old  England, 

258 

CHAPTER  XXV.  —  Campaign  of  1835,  1836.  —  Currency  question.  —  Retrograde 
revolution  of  the  democracy. — The  new  system  brought  about  by  Van  Buren  to 
insure  his  succession.  —  Van  Buren  elected.  —  Speeches  of  Webster.  —  Commer- 
cial revulsion  of  1837,  and  causes.  —  Benton's  Thirty  Years'  View.  —  Van  Buren's 
sub-treasury  scheme.  —  Traits  of  the  administration.  —  Speeches  of  Clay  and 
Webster  on  the  sub-treasury.  —  John  C.  Calhoun  and  his  reconciliation  with  the 
Democratic  party,  etc., 278 

CHAPTER  XXVI.  —  Campaign  of  1840.  —  Harrison  and  availability.  —Tyler  vice- 
president.  —  Death  of  Harrison,  and  Tyler's  presidency.  —  Resignation  of  the 
cabinet.  —  Sub-treasury,  United  States  Bank,  and  tariff  of  1842.  —  Webster, 
secretary  of  state,  retains  his  seat  till  1842.  —  Treaty  of  Washington,  etc.,  .  .  292 

CHAPTER  XXVII.  —  Campaign  cf  1844.— Henry  Clay  and  James  K.  Polk.— 
Annexation  of  Texas.  —  Polk's  election. — Freesoil  candidates. — Interest  of 
England  in  Polk's  election.  —  Tariff  of  1842  repealed.  —  Tariff  of  1846. —Mexi- 
can war  the  great  measure  of  Polk's  administration. — Credit  gained  by  Whig 
generals  reconciled  the  Whig  party  to  the  war.  —  General  Taylor  popular  with 
the  democracy.  —  Availability  again  tried.  —  Political  principles  by  Whigs  but 
little  mooted  — The  abolition  spirit  aroused.  — Van  Euren  the  abolition  candidate 
in  1848.  —  Cass  democratic  candidate. — The  Freesoilers  puzzled,  but  Van  Buren 
gets  a  large  vote.  —  Taylor  elected.  —  Millard  Fillmore  vice-president.  — Taylor's 
death.  —  Fillmore  president.  —  W.  II.  Sewanl.  —  His  only  hopes  for  reaching  the 
presidency  through  the  triumph  of  sectionalism.  —  Increase  of  freesoilism,  etc., 

298 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.  —  Campaign  of  1852  the  last  Whig  campaign.  —  Causes  of  the 
ruin  of  the  Whig  party.  —  Slavery  issue.  —  Propagation  of  anti-slavery  feelings 
in  the  North.  —  Hatred  of  slavery  applied  to  negro  servitude  by  the  ignorant.  — 
Alienation  of  the  North  from  the  South.  —  Fugitive  laws  of  1793  and  1850,  etc., 

314 

CHAPTER  XXIX.  —  The  acquisition  of  new  territory  occasioned  the  increase  of 
freesoilism.  —  Action  of  the  South.  —  Secession  meditated.  —  J.  C.  Calhoun's 
speech  and  position.  —  Controversies  in  regard  to  California,  New  Mexico  and 
Utah.  —  The  Wilmot  proviso.  —  Disunion  imminent.  —  Compromise  measures  of 
Mr.  Clay.  —  Webster's  seventh  of  March  speech.  —  California  prefers  free-labor. 

—  Slavery  found  to  be  a  question  of  climate.  —  Compromise  measures  pass.  — The 
fugitive  slave  law.  —  New  England  offended  at  Webster  for  favoring  that  law. — 
Change  of  the  popular  mind,  and  the  ancient  feeling  on  the  subject,  etc.,     .    .  329 

CHAPTER  XXX.  —  Campaign  of  1852.  —  The  platforms  of  the  two  parties.  —  Ad- 
ministration of  Pierce.  —  Douglas  and  the  Nebraska  measure.  —  Efforts  in  the 
North.  —  Republican  party.  —  Nominations  and  election  of  '56.  —  Cincinnati  con- 
vention. —  Fremont.  —  Election  of  Buchanan.  —  His  administration,  etc.,  .  .  345 

CHAPTER  XXXI. —  The  Republican,  American  and  Democratic  parties.  —  Their 
features  and  characteristics. — Democratic  the  only  national  party. — Necessity 
of  a  national  conservative  opposition,  without  which  that  party  must  soon  become 
sectional.  —  Whig  principles  and  the  spirit  of  the  old  Whig  party  considered.  — 
The  necessity  of  the  revival  of  the  Whig  party,  etc., 354 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  origin  of  political  parties  which  have  existed 
in  this  country  cannot  well  be  understood  without 
a  recurrence  to  the  events  and  circumstances  in  the 
mother  country  from  which  many  of  our  political 
principles  took  their  rise.  Many  of  the  principles 
considered  when  our  forefathers  established  the  in- 
stitutions they  bequeathed  to  us  were,  at  different 
times,  the  subjects  of  agitation  in  England  before 
the  American  Revolution  commenced.  If  the 
Anglo-Americans  are  truly  the  descendants  of  the 
ancient  Saxons,  the  American  Revolution  only  had 
the  effect  of  restoring  to  the  race  the  primitive  but 
greatly  modified  independence  it  enjoyed  upon  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic.  The  subjugation  of  the  Sax- 
ons in  England  by  the  Normans  (a  conquest  of 
fillibusters  by  fillibusters),  and  the  establishment  in 
that  island  of  the  Feudal  System,  was  a  reduction 
of  our  ancient  ancestors  to  a  pretty  severe  state  of 
bondage.  As  in  the  process  of  ages  the  Saxon  blood 
so  flourished  as  to  check  the  power  of  that  haughty 
line  of  iron  rulers,  a  greater  degree  of  liberty  and 

(IX) 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

freedom  was  gradually  acquired.  All  such  acquisi- 
tions, or  rights  and  immunities,  by  the  commonalty 
of  Old  England  extorted  from  their  lordly  masters, 
were  usually  secured  by  solemn  writings,  called 
charters,  constitutions,  etc.  The  freedom  of  speech; 
the  liberty  of  conscience  in  matters  of  religion  j 
the  principles  of  taxation  and  representation ;  the 
right  of  jury  trial  •  the  right  of  relief  from  arbitrary 
imprisonment  by  writ  of  habeas  corpus  ;  and  very 
many  other  principles  considered  and  guarded  by 
our  constitutions,  had  their  birth  in  the  British  isle, 
and  were  brought  to  this  continent  by  the  early  set- 
tlers. To  see  the  Saxons  thus  gradually  make  their 
feudal  lords  relax  their  tyranny,  and  by  degrees 
break  up  that  uncouth  system  of  military  tenures, 
and  to  see  them  secure  those  great  principles 
of  civil  liberty  so  rarely  enjoyed  by  mankind,  was 
to  witness  the  triumphs  of  more  than  an  ordinary 
race.  The  ancient  Britons,  who  were  subdued  by 
the  Roman  arms,  and  held  in  subjection  for  some 
four  hundred  years,  were  by  that  subjugation  and 
dominion  rendered  spiritless  and  helpless.  Scarcely 
a  family  of  the  old  Sclavonic  race  has  ever  made 
much  progress,  but  take  the  servile  as  a  normal  con- 
dition. The  pure  Celtic  race  has  ever  been  slow  in 
the  development  of  the  principles  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty. But  the  Saxon  is  an  aspiring  blood.  The 
tutelage  it  has  received  and  is  receiving  from  the 
Norman, — a  kindred,  but  for  a  long  time  in  military 
discipline  a  superior  people,  —  though  rough  and 
severe,  may,  under  Providence,  prove  an  instrumen- 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

tality  of  good.  Without  it  the  Saxon  would  but 
slowly  have  thrown  off  his  primitive  barbarous  filli- 
buster  state,  so  as  to  have  emerged  from  England  in 
a  different  condition  from  that  in  which  his  ancestors, 
under  Hengist,  entered  it.  The  nomads  that  for 
centuries  wandered  over  the  vast  plains  of  Scythia, 
and  in  process  of  time  were  crowded  upon  the  coasts 
of  north-western  Europe,  entered  Britain  as  metal 
enters  a  mould,  to  receive  the  form  and  impress 
suitable  for  the  purposes  they  were  designed  to  sub- 
serve. To  subdue  the  nomadic  habits  of  a  race, 
and  imbue  it  with  feelings,  capacities,  aptitudes, 
sympathies,  and  the  principles  of  nationality,  and  fit 
it  for  civil  liberty,  is  no  small  undertaking,  and 
requires  not  only  severe  discipline,  but  also  time. 
From  the  conquest  of  England  by  William  the  Nor- 
man, about  the  twelfth  century,  to  the  discovery  of 
America,  near  the  dawn  of  the  sixteenth,  we  see 
that  the  reformatory  rule  of  tyranny  had  been 
applied  in  England  with  so  strong  a  hand  as  to  very 
much  modify  the  native  disposition  of  the  Saxon, 
and  he  began  to  experience  those  national  feelings 
which  caused  him  to  exult  in  the  idea  that  he 
had  a  country.  The  constant  wars  for  centuries 
with  France  had  contributed  to  inspire  the  islander 
with  patriotic  feelings.  And  the  occasional  quarrels 
between  the  king  and  the  turbulent  nobility  of  early 
ages,  enabled  the  people,  by  siding  with  one  or  the 
other  of  the  parties,  to  extort  from  the  crown  those 
charters  which  have  changed  the  British  government 
from  almost  an  absolute  despotism,  to  a  limited, 


XII  INTRODUCTION. 

constitutional  monarchy.  But  for  several  centuries 
the  British  monarchy  submitted  to  changes  but 
gradually,  and  very  reluctantly,  and  concessions  had 
to  be  many  times  extorted  from  the  crown  before 
they  were  sacredly  regarded  as  the  inviolable  rights 
of  the  people.  The  earlier  ages  of  that  monarchy 
were  devoted  more  to  warlike  enterprises  than  to 
the  arts  of  peace.  The  susceptibility  of  the  Saxon 
for  civilization,  as  disclosed  by  his  history  while 
upon  the  coast  of  the  Baltic,  as  well  as  by  the 
administration  of  Alfred,  was  quite  apparent;  but 
the  Feudal  System,  with  such  masters  as  the  Norman 
brought  into  England,  though  well  calculated  to 
nationalize  those  migratory  tribes,  was  not  well 
adapted  to  develop  the  pursuits  and  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  Saxon  upon  the  Baltic  repressed  all 
civilizing  arts  by  the  dire  necessity  of  his  situation, 
and  not  as  a  matter  of  choice ;  he  was  never  insen- 
sible to  the  ameliorating  influences  of  peace  and 
social  commerce ;  but  without  a  government  which 
is  the  gift  of  mental  and  moral  discipline,  such  influ- 
ences can  never  be  enjoyed. 

The  Saxons  were  early  addicted  to  the  sea,  and 
were,  in  their  rude  vessels,  spirited  navigators; 
under  Alfred  and  his  successors  they  took  much 
pride  in  their  fleets ;  but  England,  until  after  the 
discovery  of  America,  had  accomplished  but  little 
in  the  way  of  commerce,  or  the  arts  and  sciences. 
The  early  British  monarchs  were  warriors,  and  are 
prominent  in  English  annals  as  soldiers  j  but  the 
trades,  and  those  pursuits  which  now  render  England 


INTRODUCTION.  XIII 

the  first  of  nations,  were  but  little  encouraged.  The 
earlier  kings,  for  their  support,  and  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  their  armies,  were  obliged  to  resort  to 
robbery,  and,  as  a  fruitful  resource,  frequently  plun- 
dered the  Jews.  They  had  no  commerce.  Edward 
the  Third  (about  A.  D.  1350)  began  to  encourage 
the  manufacture  of  woollen  fabrics ;  but  he  prohib- 
ited the  exportation  of  all  articles  manufactured  of 
wool  and  iron.  This  shows  how  crude  must  have 
been  the  ideas  of  the  British  rulers  of  those  days 
in  regard  to  commerce.  The  exports  and  imports 
of  England  about  a  century  before  the  discovery  of 
America  (merely  nothing)  will  show  how  little  the 
English  had  advanced  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  civil- 
ization. It  was  about  this  time  that  her  vessels 
began  to  reach  the  Baltic  for  the  purposes  of  trade, 
and  they  did  not  trade  to  the  Mediterranean  until 
about  the  middle  of  the  next  century,  or  about  fifty 
years  previous  to  the  discovery  of  America.  But 
the  discovery  of  America,  and  of  the  passage  to 
India  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  late  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  gave  an  impetus  to  commerce;  and 
at  about  this  period  modern  civilization  began  to 
take  its  rise.  Since  the  discovery  of  America,  Eng- 
land herself,  in  her  political  as  well  as  in  her  social 
institutions,  has  passed  through  an  entire  revolution. 
For  many  hundred  years  Great  Britain  was  but  a 
sort  of  military  despotism,  without  a  king  or  states- 
man capable  of  comprehending  the  principles  of 
political  economy  as  practised  by  civilized  nations. 
But  commerce  is  the  magic  power  before  the  touch 
2 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

of  which  the  harshest  features  of  feudalism  have  long 
since  given  away,  and  its  last  relics  are  fast  disap- 
pearing. The  spirit  of  feudal  aristocracy  is  anything 
but  compatible  with  what  by  modern  politicians  is 
called  progress ;  arid  the  regulation  of  the  arts, 
trades,  and  commerce,  under  her  earlier  kings,  shows 
England,  until  comparatively  a  late  period,  acting  in 
defiance  of  the  principles  which  have  in  modern 
times,  in  despite  of  her  rulers,  elevated  her  to  the 
first  rank  in  greatness.  Her  trade  has  been  of  slow 
but  sure  growth.  It  is  interesting  to  trace  its  prog- 
ress, as  with  it  came  her  civilization  and  power. 
Her  first  rude  statutes,  adopted  to  aid  her  merchants; 
her  efforts  to  compete  with  her  Dutch  rivals,  and 
then  her  naval  warfare  with  those  audacious  Dutch- 
men, in  which  the  English  navy,  triumphing  over  the 
gallant  Van  Tromp,  laid  the  foundation  of  her  future 
greatness ;  the  relaxation  of  the  doctrine  of  entails 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by  which 
feudalism  received  a  check  and  commerce  an  im- 
petus ;  the  discovery  of  America ;  the  invention  of 
the  art  of  printing ;  the  introduction  of  the  use  of 
gunpowder  in  warfare,  by  which  national  difficulties 
could  the  more  speedily  be  brought  to  a  close  ;  and 
the  revival  of  letters  ;  all  are  events  which,  falling  out 
nearly  in  the  same  century,  were  the  precursors  of  the 
changes  which  have  been  witnessed  in  modern  times. 
The  Saxon  is  certainly  a  promising  race.  Its  origin 
is  involved  in  mystery,  being  but  an  offshoot  of  the 
still  more  mysterious  German  race,  from  which  the 
principal  civilization  of  the  present  age  took  its  rise. 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

The  revival  of  letters  came  with  the  discovery,  by 
the  German  mind,  of  the  press,  which  at  once  repro- 
duced the  ancient  civilizations,  and  enabled  the 
nations  to  leap  from  infancy  to  maturity  at  a  bound; 
and  hence  the  ideas  of  progress  which  have  so 
startled  the  thinkers  of  the  present  age.  But 
although  great  revolutions  have  swept  over  Europe, 
and  over  England  in  particular,  they  were  but  such 
revolutions  as  we  witness  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 
when  some  coarse  shrub  puts  forth  a  bud,  the  old 
and  the  new — the  rough  stock  and  its  blossom  — 
remaining  inseparably  connected  and  mutually  de- 
pendent on  each  other.  In  consequence  of  the 
causes  alluded  to,  England,  for  many  hundred  years, 
has  been  undergoing  a  change  in  the  spirit  of  her 
institutions,  and  the  change  will  continue  its  progress 
hereafter ;  and  nature  has  in  the  human  as  well  as 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom  her  subjects  so  effectually 
under  her  control,  that  we  may  expect  the  future 
development  of  the  fruits  of  civilization  will  proceed 
with  that  gradual  and  regular  course  which  shall 
indicate  them  healthy  growths.  Hot-bed  plants  are 
pleasing  and  luscious,  but  can  only  be  preserved  by 
an  artificial  atmosphere.  In  the  moral  world  it  is 
not  singular  that  some  minds,  impatient  at  what  they 
conceive  to  be  the  slow  advancement,  as  by  a 
natural  growth,  of  ameliorating  principles,  should 
seek,  by  stimulating  expedients,  to  hasten  their  prog- 
ress. But  as  yet  no  revolution  produced  in 
advance  of  its  proper  time,  by  the  application  of 
such  excitants,  has  been  productive  of  useful  fruits. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

Prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  English  colo- 
nies in  America  political  parties  had  an  active 
existence  in  the  mother  country,  of  which  the  par- 
ties in  America,  especially  during  and  preceding  the 
Revolution,  were  the  offspring.  The  earliest  par- 
ties in  England  were  the  gift  of  religious  contro- 
versies, and  were,  subsequent  to  the  Reformation, 
very  violent.  One  has  but  to  read  the  history  of 
the  times  of  the  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads,  or  of 
England  down  to  and  during  the  time  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, to  see  with  what  rigor  party  spirit 
reigned  in  that  country.  The  persecution  of  those 
who  embraced  reformatory  views  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion, under  James  the  First,  drove  the  Puritans  to 
Plymouth  Rock.  The  titles  of  Whig  and  Tory, 
which  have  designated  the  two  principal  parties  in 
England  for  the  last  two  hundred  years,  originated 
in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Second.  It  is  not  a  little 
interesting  to  trace  the  history  of  parties  in  Great 
Britain ;  and  in  the  perusal  the  reader  is  struck  with 
what  he  must  regard  as  their  providential  direction. 
As  a  general  thing  the  two  parties  in  question  have 
been  both  national  and  conservative.  For  much  of 
the  time  during  their  existence  it  would  be  puzzling 
for  one  to  discern  the  principles  that  divided  them, 
their  contests  having  been  more  for  place,  or  office, 
than  anything  else.  This  is  by  no  means  true  of 
the  whole  period  during  which  those  parties  have 
existed.  During  the  ministries  of  Grenville,  the 
Pitts,  and  Fox,  we  find  that  they  were  divided  on 
important  political  measures.  But  what  is  worthy 


INTRODUCTION.  XVII 

of  remark  is  that  throughout  the  whole  existence 
of  those  parties,  they  have,  with  scarcely  more  than 
one  exception,  been  founded  on  a  conservative  and 
national  basis,  and,  though  at  times  degenerating 
into  mere  factions,  rarely  ever  have  taken  an  attitude 
dangerous  to  the  integrity  of  the  British  domin- 
ions. With  the  exception  of  the  Tory  measures  in 
regard  to  the  American  colonies,  neither  of  those 
parties  have  been  sectional,  nor  composed  of  one 
class  of  society  as  antagonistic  to  another.  In  each 
have  ever  been  individuals  of  all  classes.  The 
Whigs  have  in  later  times  been  regarded  as  the  most 
liberal ;  but  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  was  the  first 
Whig,  and  ever  since  his  day  the  Whigs  have  em- 
braced a  fair  share  of  the  aristocracy.  At  the  revolu- 
tion of  1688,  when  the  bigoted  James  was  divested 
of  his  crown,  and  William  of  Orange  placed  upon 
the  English  throne,  the  masses  of  Whigs  and  Tories 
seemed  to  cooperate.  In  short,  throughout  the  his- 
tory of  these  parties,  embracing  England's  history 
for  two  hundred  years,  the  evidences  of  their  bene- 
ficial effects  are  apparent.  They  have  been  the 
schools  in  which  the  greatest  statesmen  have  been 
educated,  and  the  unparalleled  prosperity  of  England 
in  modern  times  has  been  much  owing  to  their  in- 
strumentality. Within  proper  channels,  restrained 
within  legitimate,  reasonable,  and  natural  limits, 
political  parties  may  be  instrumental  of  good;  but, 
beyond  these  limits,  devastating  floods. 


A  HISTORY 

OF 

THE    WHIG    PARTY. 


CHAPTER    I...       .      .       ,   . 

POLITICAL     PARTIES      PRIOR     TO     AND     DURING      THE      REVOLUTION. 

THE     SECTIONALISM    WHICH     CAUSED    THE     SEPARATION.  THE     CON- 
SERVATISM  AND    POLICY  OF   WILLIAM  PITT,  THE  ELDER. THE   EFFECT 

OP  THE  REVOLUTION   ON   PARTIES. — THE   INCONGRUITY   OF   THE  DIF- 
FERENT  COLONIES. 

Two  large  political  parties  have  existed  in  this 
country  nearly  from  the  period  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution.  ( Since  the  times  of  Jefferson,  the  measures 
of  these  parties  have  undergone  many  changes,  and 
many  of  their  respective  members  have  changed  sides  ; 
but  still  we  can  trace  in  the  present  Democratic  many 
lineaments  of  the  old  Republican  party ;  and  the  late 
Whig  was  in  many  respects  the  representative  of  the 
old  Federal  party.  -  The  policy,  tactics,  and  measures, 
have  not  continued  the  same,  and  perhaps  the  modern 
parties  contain  but  few  traits  to  identify  them  with  their 
predecessors.  When  the  relationship  of  the  modern  to 
the  ancient  parties  is  spoken  of,  we  have  more  particular 
reference  to  their  perpetuation  as  political  organizations, 
than  to  the  transmission  of  party  principles.  These 

(13) 


14  A   HISTORY   OF 

two  original  parties  were  organized  and  brought  into 
action  soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  but 
were  formed,  in  part,  from  elements  previously  existing. 
In  sketching  their  origin,  we  will  glance  at  only  some  of 
the  more  prominent  events  that  gave  them  birth.  Dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  struggle  the  old  English  party 
titles  of  Whig  and  Tory  were  in  vogue  ;  and,  at  the 
outset  of  the  difficulties  that  led  to  that  struggle,  the 
parties  represented  by  those  titles  in  England  and 
America  were  nearly  identical ;  but  at  a  later  period 
'tji'e  American  Whig  and  Tory  lost  all  identity  with  their 
transatlantic  namesakes.  In  this  country  the  title 
Whig  came  to  represent  one  who  was  in  favor  of  popu- 
lar rights  as  opposed  to  all  regal  government,  while 
that  of  Tory  was  applied  to  those  who,  although  opposed 
to  the  usurpations  of  George  the  Third,  were  still  in 
favor  of  monarchy,  and  opposed  to  the  stand  for  inde- 
pendence taken  by  the  colonies.  \  The  Tories  of  that 
period  were,  in  America,  divided  into  two  classes,  it  is 
true;  viz.,  those  who  sided  with  the  ministry  of  George 
the  Third,  and  those  who  dissented  from  that  monarch's 
project  of  taxing  the  colonies,  but  still  adhered  to  the 
royal  cause  during  the  Revolution.  The  change  in 
the  spirit  of  parties  progressed  with  the  Revolution, 
and  kept  pace  with  the  body  which  that  event  produced. 
The  American  Revolution  was  not,  compared  with  the 
French,  and  other  revolutions,  a  very  bloody  struggle ; 
it  was  indeed  attended  with  some  agony,  but  was  in 
reality  but  the  throe  of  a  great  nation  in  giving  birth 
to  a  child.  As  we  look  back  upon  the  conduct  of  the 
mother  country  prior  to  the  separation  of  her  colonies 
from  her,  we  see  how  entirely,  in  the  whole  course  of 
her  proceedings  towards  them,  she  was  guided  by  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  15 

hand  of  Nature,  or  of  Providence,  who  had  apparently 
foredoomed  that  separation.  As  the  party  politics  of 
the  United  States  at  the  present  day  are  liable  to  lead 
to  as  unexpected  and  undesired  results  as  did  those  of 
Great  Britain  which  produced  the  dismemberment  of  her 
empire,  we  should  often  look  upon  the  example  of  the 
latter  as  a  warning,  and  endeavor  to  profit  by  it.  It 
seemed  to  the  British  government  as  reasonable  and 
entirely  right  that  her  colonies  should  contribute,  by 
way  of  taxes  in  some  form,  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
their  protection,  as  it  was  called.  One  method,  and  a 
fruitful  one,  of  raising  money  in  the  mother  country, 
by  way  of  tax,  was  by  making  a  law  that  all  paper 
used  for  commercial,  legal,  and  business  purposes,  should 
be  stamped,  and  that  all  contracts,  writings,  and  all 
sorts  of  obligations  used  without  such'  stamp,  should  be 
void.  The  officers  of  the  crown  sold  the  stamps  at 
fixed  prices.  They  were  small  pieces  of  paper,  on 
which  were  printed  the  words,  under  the  picture  of  the 
royal  crown,  "  Honisoit  qui  mal  ypense;"  and  the  person 
executing  a  contract,  note  of  hand,  bill  of  sale,  deed, 
will,  or  other  instrument  in  writing,  was  obliged  to 
paste  on  one  of  them,  or  his  writing  would  be  void.  It 
was  one  of  the  many  ways  adopted  by  England  to  raise 
the  necessary  funds  to  defray  the  enormous  expenses 
of  her  government ;  and  about  the  year  A.  D.  1764, 
immediately  after  what  in  America  was  called  the 
French  and  Indian  war,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  ex- 
tend the  stamp  system  of  taxation  to  this  country.  The 
colonists  remonstrated  and  protested  ;  but  the  American 
Stamp  Act  passed  Parliament  with  great  unanimity,— 
by  a  majority,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  of  about  two 
hundred,  and  in  the  House  of  Lords  unanimously.  The 


16  A   HISTORY   OF 

conduct  of  the  colonies,  in  refusing  to  submit  to  that  tax, 
was  regarded  by  our  forefathers  across  the  deep  as 
most  unnatural,  unreasonable,  and  undutiful.  George 
the  Third,  who  incurred  so  hearty  a  detestation  of  our 
ancestors,  was  not  what  his  more  worthy  countrymen 
called  an  immoral  man  ;  he  was  in  all  the  private  walks 
of  life  regarded  as  virtuous  and  upright ;  but  he  had  a 
monarch's  notions  of  royal  authority,  and  of  the  subject's 
duty  of  obedience.  That  his  people  in  distant  colonies 
should  presume  to  question  his  power,  or  the  rightful- 
ness  of  its  exercise,  excited  him  strongly  against  them. 
The  ideas  of  the  king  were  a  part  of  his  being ;  and, 
although  they  were  his  misfortune,  perhaps  they  were 
not  his  fault.  But  few  men  are  responsible  for  their 
opinions.  The  question  of  taxing  the  colonies  was  one 
that  affected  all  England  ;  and  England  generally,  at 
first,  participated  in  feelings  of  indignation  at  the 
idea  that  they  thus  should  refuse  to  submit  to  taxation. 
Her  statesmen,  her  orators,  her  jurists,  and  her  writers, 
with  few  exceptions,  united  in  putting  their  rights  at 
absolute  defiance.  The  contest  soon  became  sectional, 
and  the  bitterness  between  the  two  portions  of  the 
British  empire  became  so  extreme,  that  thousands  in 
America,  who  at  first  were  disposed  to  espouse  the  side 
of  the  mother  country,  were  forced  to  turn  against  her. 
There  were  a  few  intelligent,  clear-sighted,  and  con- 
servative men  in  England,  at  that  time,  who  foresaw  the 
tendency  of  the  measures,  policy,  and  course,  pursued 
by  the  ministry ;  but  the  warnings  of  these  brave 
patriots  were  unheeded,  or  only  met  with  derision.  They 
foresaw  and  predicted  that  the  bitterness  likely  to  be 
engendered  between  the  two  portions  of  the  common 
country  would  lead  to  a  separation,  and  a  final  loss  of 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  17 

the  colonies  ;  and  whenever  such  disunion  was  thus,  in 
spite  of  the  seeming  omnipotence  of  the  British  throne, 
predicted,  the  speaker  was  uniformly  made  an  object  of 
ridicule.  At  that  very  epoch  in  English  history  there 
was  in  England  a  statesman  whose  wisdom  had  really 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  unparalleled  greatness  which, 
notwithstanding  the  loss  of  her  best  colonies,  that  king- 
dom has  since  attained.  To  none  more  than  to  William 
Pitt  was  our  ancient  mother  indebted  for  the  inception 
of  a  course  of  policy  which  has  made  Britain  one  of  the 
greatest  of  modern  powers.  Had  his  views  been  re- 
garded by  his  countrymen,  the  British  empire  would 
long  since  have  been  the  greatest,  and  altogether  the 
most  powerful  and  magnificent,  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
Pitt  was  the  first  of  English  statesmen ;  he  was  more 
than  a  century  in  advance  of  his  age  ;  his  penetrating 
mind  saw  clearly  the  advantages,  in  a  commercial  point 
of  view,  of  the  position  of  Great  Britain  and  he  under- 
stood better  than  any  of  his  cotemporaries  the  real 
resources  of  his  country,  and  in  what  her  true  wealth 
and  power  were  to  consist.  He  gave  the  impetus  and 
direction  to  her  commercial  system,  which  all  the 
blunders  of  later  statesmen,  and  all  the  impediments 
thrown  in  its  way  by  ignorance  and  folly,  have  not  been 
able  to  arrest.  The  colonial  system  of  England  Mr. 
Pitt  regarded  as  the  right  arm  of  her  power,  without 
which  her  commerce,  for  which  she  seemed  designed  by 
nature,  (iould  never  be  developed.  Under  his  adminis- 
tration the  Canadas  were  added  to  the  crown  ;  and,  had 
his  prudent  counsels  been  heeded,  it  is  very  clear  that 
the  loss  of  the  American  colonies  would  not  have  taken 
place.  But  what  signifies  the  voice  of  wisdom  when 
opposed  to  the  prevailing  sentiment,  or  passion,  or  ideas 


18  A   HISTORY    OP 

of  a  nation  ?  His  sense  of  right,  justice,  prudence,  and 
expediency  for  his  country,  prompted  him  to  stand  up 
almost  alone  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  resist  the 
first  steps  of  that  power  in  a  course  that  was  to  cost 
England  the  most  valuable  portion  of  her  empire  :  and, 
by  taking  such  a  stand  against  the  settled  feeling  of  his 
day,  he  placed  himself  in  a  small  minority,  and  his  great 
wisdom  and  unparalleled  faculties  were  lost  to  the  ad- 
ministrative service  of  his  country. 

It  should  always,  in  reading  the  history  of  American 
politics,  be  borne  in  mind  that,  at  the  time  when  the 
troubles  between  England  and  her  colonies  commenced, 
those  colonies  were  far  from  being  composed  of  such 
homogeneous  materials  as  to  facilitate  their  ready  union 
into  one  people.  The  New  England  colonists  were 
generally  religionists  ;  people  of  severe  morals,  and 
disciplined  in  the  school  of  adversity.  They  were 
mostly,  especially  the  first  settlers,  persons  bred  in 
poverty,  with  but  little  education,  saving  in  scriptural 
matters.  The  Puritans,  in  England,  were  looked  upon 
as  fanatics.  To  escape  from  oppression  they  sought 
refuge  in  New  England.  On  the  other  hand,  Virginia 
was  settled  by  a  portion  of  those  same  Englishmen 
whose  religious  and  political  sentiments  had  driven  the 
Puritans  from  England.  Virginia  was  the  most  favored 
of  the  American  colonies  ;  her  charter  was  liberal  and 
her  grant  of  territory  magnificent.  Many  of  her  plant- 
ers were  from  high  families,  and,  as  a  general  thing,  the 
settlers  of  that  colony  were  of  the  Anglican  church, 
and  attached  to  the  English  institutions.  Maryland, 
also,  settled  under  the  auspices  of  Lord  Baltimore, 
received  many  wealthy  planters,  who  sought  asylum 
from  religious  persecution  ;  but,  as  they  were  Catholics, 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  19 

they  would  not  be  likely  to  find  much  sympathy  amongst 
their  Protestant  neighbors.  The  Pennsylvania  colony, 
commenced  under  Penn  and  his  followers,  who  were 
driven  from  the  mother  country  by  harsh  usage,  was, 
like  that  of  Maryland,  exceedingly  tolerant  of  other 
sects,  and,  like  that  colony,  also  received  into  her  midst 
with  fraternal  affection  people  of  all  lands  and  religions. 
The  Carolinas  were  settlements  of  English  planters, 
commenced  under  the  auspices  of  the  British  nobility, 
and  were  generally  attached  to  the  English  church, 
saving  a  moderate  mixture  of  the  Huguenots,  who  in 
early  times  found  their  way  into  the  South.  New  York 
was  a  mongrel  colony.  She  was  in  early  times  settled 
by  the  Dutch,  and  was  afterwards  overrun  by  Englishmen 
of  all  degrees  and  qualities.  These  settlements,  prior 
to  the  Revolution,  had  no  political  connection,  and  but 
little  intercourse  with  each  other.  Their  only  bond  of 
union  was  through  the  mother  country,  to  which  they 
all  hung  like  clusters  of  grapes  to  the  parent  vine.  So 
gracefully  and  naturally  were  the  colonies  attached  to 
the  mother  country,  and,  left  to  themselves,  so  little 
were  they  adapted  to  a  union  amongst  themselves, 
that,  had  it  not  been  for  extreme  violence  from  that 
mother  country,  they  would  not  have  been  shaken  from 
her  attachment.  But  King  George  had  no  conception 
of  the  policy  which  should  govern  his  administra- 
tion. Pitt  saw  in  England's  colonies  but  the  pillars 
of  her  commerce  and  manufactures,  which  should  make 
that  country  the  richest  and  most  powerful  of  nations  ; 
but  George's  minister,  Grenville,  though  accomplished 
and  fully  equal  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  looked 
upon  them  with  a  narrower  view.  He  only  saw  them 
beneficial  in  proportion  as  they  could  be  made  tributary 


20  A   HISTORY   OF 

to  the  treasury  by  means  of  taxation.  The  death  of 
George  the  Second  in  It 60,  after  the  conquest  of  the 
Canadas  under  the  ministry  of  Pitt,  was  followed  by  the 
coronation  of  George  the  Third,  and  the  peace  of  Paris, 
in  1763,  brought  about  through  the  counsels  of  Bute, 
and  in  spite  of  the  wishes  of  Pitt.  In  the  French  war, 
which  resulted  in  the  fall  of  Louisburg,  Quebec,  and 
the  surrender  by  the  French  of  the  Canadas,  the  Amer- 
icans had  truly  shown  themselves  of  great  service 
to  England,  and  had  taught  France  and  Europe  fearful 
expectations  from  the  fast  growing  power  of  Britain. 
What  would  have  been  the  career  of  England,  had  she 
continued  to  hold  her  colonies,  can  only  be  imagined  ; 
it  was  perhaps  well  for  the  world  that  the  dismember- 
ment took  place  ;  and  France  was  far  from  censurable 
for  seeking  her  own  safety  by  the  only  measure  that 
could  prevent  her  rival's  becoming  at  once  the  mistress 
of  the  world.  The  French  minister  (Choiseul)  saw, 
better  than  either  North  or  Grenville,  the  importance  to 
England  of  the  American  possessions.  In  considering 
the  early  politics  of  this  country,  the  motives  of  France 
for  intriguing  for  American  freedom  should  be  carefully 
examined  into  ;  for,  on  account  of  the  interposition  of 
that  country  in  our  behalf  during  the  Kevolution, 
American  party  politics  were  sensibly  affected,  espe- 
cially during  the  progress  of  the  French  Revolution. 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  21 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  PERSISTENCE  OP  ENGLAND  IN  HER  REVENUE  ACTS  UNITES  THE  COLO- 
NIES.—  ACTION  OF  VIRGINIA  AND  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  —  THE  FORMA- 
TION OF  THE  UNION  BY  THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. THE 

DIFFICULTIES    IN  THE  WAY  OF  A  UNION. PROBABLE  RESULTS    IN  CASE 

THERE    HAD    BEEN    NO  UNION. THE    SACRIFICE    OF    THE    LARGE    AND 

GAIN  OF  THE  SMALLER  STATES  BY  THE  UNION.  —  CONSTITUTIONAL 
CONVENTION.  —  THE  PART  TAKEN  BY  VIRGINIA  IN  ESTABLISHING  THE 
UNION. 

THE  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  taught  the  ministry  of 
George  the  Third  two  things,  by  neither  of  which  did 
they  seem  to  have  the  ability  to  profit.  It  taught  them 
the  great  importance  of  the  colonies  as  consumers  of 
English  goods,  and  the  spirit  with  which  they  were  evi- 
dently disposed  to  meet  encroachments  on  their  rights. 
The  resistance  of  the  colonists  was  not  regarded  at  first 
in  a  serious  light ;  but  the  loss  of  trade  with  America, 
consequent  on  that  resistance,  disclosed  the  fact  that, 
even  at  that  time,  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing 
interests  had  begun  to  acquire  some  importance,  although 
they  had  no  decisive  influence  in  the  administration. 
They,  perhaps,  contributed  greatly  to  the  repeal  of  the 
odious  Stamp  Act ;  but  the  infatuated  ministry  were  so 
wedded  to  their  project  of  taxing  America,  that  the 
Stamp  Act  was  only  repealed  to  give  place  to  other  sys- 
tems of  taxation.  Unlimited  submission  of  refractory 
subjects  was  the  only  thing  to  satisfy  a  haughty  feudal 
monarch,  and  hence  the  enforcement  of  attempted  taxa- 


22  A   HISTORY    OP 

tion  became  a  matter  of  pride  with  the  king  arid  his 
ministry. 

The  infatuation  of  the  British  ministry  and  king  cost 
England  the  best  of  her  American  colonies.  But  these 
colonies,  thus  indebted  to  England's  injustice  and  folly, 
and  to  the  jealousy  of  France,  for  their  independence, 
were  a  long  time  at  the  mercy  of  chance,  and,  unless 
actually  under  the  control  of  Divine  Providence,  in- 
debted likewise  to  the  hand  of  fortune  for  the  true  great- 
ness they  have  since  attained.  As  early  as  1116  the 
Americans  declared  themselves  independent  of  the 
mother  country;  and  the  struggles  of  the  Eevolutionary 
War  taught  them  that  mutual  dependence  on  each  other 
which  well  prepared  them  for  the  formation  of  the 
Union,  and  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  under  which 
we  now  live.  The  colonies,  by  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, were  not  attempting  to  work  out  schemes  of  am- 
bition, and  but  few  of  those  persons  who  saw  the  revolu- 
tionary drama  successfully  closed,  had  anything  like  a 
correct  idea  of  the  future  greatness  destined  to  attend 
their  new-born  country.  The  contest  between  the  colo- 
nies and  the  mother  country  was  a  struggle  on  the  part 
of  the  former  for  their  legal  rights, — a  battle  against 
oppression.  In  this  resistance  they  were  all  a  unit. 
Massachusetts  had  already  made  wonderful  progress 
in  every  species  of  prosperity.  Upon  the  ocean  and 
the  land  her  commerce  had  begun  to  expand,  and  all 
the  trades  flourished  in  her  bosom.  For  virtue,  in- 
telligence, and  industry,  she  was  in  advance  of  her 
sisters ;  and  when  that  first  project  of  taxation,  the 
Stamp  Act,  was  put  forth,  the  voice  of  her  intelli- 
gent and  manly  sons  went  forth  through  the  land  in 
loud  remonstrance.  But  Virginia  !  all  have  heard  of  the 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  23 

electric  shock  which  that  colony  sent  through  the  con- 
tinent !  Patrick  Henry  drew  the  resolves  which  her 
House  of  Burgesses  passed,  declaring,  in  effect,  that  the 
Stamp  Act  was  not  binding  on  the  colonies,  and  that, 
without  representation  in  the  British  Parliament,  that 
legislature  had  no  authority  to  tax  America.  These  re- 
solves found  a  cordial  response  in  every  colony,  and 
on  none  did  they  fall  with  more  animating  effect  than  on 
Massachusetts.  In  the  threatened  conflict  Massachu- 
setts had  much  to  encounter,  and  her  brave  sons  felt  no 
common  joy  when  they  heard  from  Virginia  in  thunder- 
tones  such  a  bold  defiance  hurled  at  the  tyrants  over 
the  deep.  It  was  truly  said  that  "  Virginia  gave  the  sig- 
nal for  the  continent. "  Massachusetts  was  not  insen- 
sible to  the  nobleness  of  Virginia  patriotism.  In  those 
days,  no  matter  in  what  section  of  this  land  he  was  born 
or  bred,  every  true  American's  heart  thrilled  with  one 
sentiment,  and  all  united  in  the  conflict  with  the  oppres- 
sor with  a  kindred  spirit.  Massachusetts  was  the  first 
to  suggest  the  idea  of  an  American  Congress  to  unite 
on  means  of  redress,  but  South  Carolina  was  the  first 
to  appoint  delegates.  The  spirit  of  resistance  was 
everywhere,  and  the  concert  of  action  necessary  to  ren- 
der that  resistance  effectual  was  attained  ;  and,  after 
the  most  glorious  struggle  the  world  has  ever  seen,  the 
colonies  in  1783  became  what  they  had  declared  them- 
selves to  be  —  Independent  States. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  perfected 
and  adopted  in  1788.  The  Federalists  of  that  day  were 
riot  precisely  the  party  that  afterwards  went  by  that 
name.  Of  the  questions  before  the  American  people,  on 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  it  is  impossible  here 
to  give  any  adequate  account.  The  greater  portion  of 
3* 


24  A   HISTORY   OF 

the  most  prominent  American  statesmen  manifested  the 
deepest  solicitude  for  the  formation  of  the  Union  of  the 
American  States,  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 
France  had  evidently  aided  the  colonies  to  achieve  their 
independence  with  a  view  to  the  formation  of  a  close 
and  profitable  connection  with  them,  as  well  as  for  the 
purpose  of  abridging  the  increasing  power  of  England. 
Should  the  states,  after  becoming  independent  and 
sovereign,  remain  separate,  and  each  under  its  own 
control,  they  would,  it  was  feared,  become  a  prey  to 
European  powers,  until  civil  war,  superinduced  by  for- 
eign intrigues,  and  the  clashing  of  internal  interests, 
should  overwhelm  them  in  ruin.  There  was  but  one 
hope ;  that  was  felt  by  every  statesman  and  patriot  to 
be  in  union.  Washington's  great  and  patriotic  heart 
was  deeply  enlisted  in  the  measure.  It  was  hard  to 
form  a  constitution  that  would  give  perfect  satisfaction 
to  all  sections  of  the  country,  and  much  was  yielded, 
by  way  of  mutual  concession,  out  of  a  patriotic  desire 
to  secure  to  posterity  the  liberty  which  had  cost  so 
much  treasure  and  blood.  Although  the  Constitution 
had  the  support  of  Washington,  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  most  prominent  patriots  whose  labors  and  coun- 
sels had  guided  the  colonies  through  the  Revolution,  it 
had,  nevertheless,  many  powerful  opponents.  The 
most  eloquent  advocates  in  its  favor,  whose  writings 
have  come  down  to  us,  were,  perhaps,  the  authors  of 
the  Federalist  —  Jay,  Hamilton,  and  Madison.  As  the 
opinions  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussions  upon 
the  formation  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution  were 
regarded  in  the  political  party  organizations  which  sub- 
sequently came  into  existence,  it  is  clear  that  any  one 
who  would  thoroughly  comprehend  the  origin  of  politi- 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  25 

cal  parties  in  the  United  States  should  look  attentively 
into  the  history  of  that  interesting  period.  The  period 
was  truly  an  interesting  one,  and  it  is  feared  that  we 
are  too  little  accustomed  to  revert  to  it  for  lessons  of 
political  wisdom  and  patriotism.  Do  we  not  show  too 
great  a  disposition  to  be  governed  by  considerations 
of  the  present,  with  too  little  regard  to  the  past  and 
future  ?  It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  statesman 
who,  in  shaping  his  political  theories,  shall  disregard 
the  landmarks  afforded  by  the  past,  will  never  prove  a 
safe  counsellor  for  the  state. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  there  were 
none  but  colonial  governments.  The  colonies,  in  1776, 
declared  themselves  states,  after  which  there  was  noth- 
ing, excepting  the  Confederation,  but  state  governments 
until  the  adoption  of  the  United  States  Constitution  in 
1788.  The  Congress,  which  was  formed  by  delegates 
from  the  different  states,  having  no  power,  saving 
what  those  states  voluntarily  accorded  to  it,  continued 
its  patriotic  labors  from  1774  till  the  adoption  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  in  1781.  By  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  no  general  government  was  formed,  with 
power  to  raise  armies,  levy  taxes  and  imposts,  regulate 
commerce,  or  otherwise  provide  for  the  general  safety 
and  well-being  of  the  whole  country.  The  Congress, 
as  constituted  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  could 
recommend  measures  necessary  for  such  purposes  ;  but 
each  state  was  independent,  and  there  was  no  compul- 
sory power  to  insure  compliance  with  the  congressional 
recommendations.  The  revolutionary  struggle  ended 
in  1783,  and  for  a  few  years  the  states  attempted  to 
proceed  under  the  Confederation,  but  were  soon  dis- 
couraged, and  fearful  apprehensions  were  entertained 


26  A  HISTORY  OF 

by  the  patriots  of  those  days  for  the  future  welfare  of 
the  country.  Considering  the  original  diversity  as  to 
manners,  habits,  customs,  religion  and  caste,  of  the 
people  of  the  different  colonies,  it  could  not  have  been 
expected  that  they  would  all  readily  merge  into  a  gen- 
eral government  which  should  absorb  all  their  nation- 
ality ;  nor  could  such  a  consummation  have  been  possi- 
ble, but  for  the  fraternal  feelings  inspired  by  their  long 
and  united  resistance  to  the  mother  country.  It  is  true 
that  there  were  multitudes  in  those  days  who  were  op- 
posed to  the  Union  as  finally  formed ;  and  there  were 
many  who  were  not  in  favor  of  any  union  at  all,  but 
would  leave  each  state  a  sovereign  power.  And  had 
there  been  no  union,  this  must  of  course  have  been  the 
case.  No  one  capable  of  a  slight  degree  of  reflection 
can  fail  to  see  that  the  result,  in  such  an  event,  must 
have  been  disastrous  in  the  extreme.  Here  would  have 
been  a  cluster  of  republics  ;  but  the  kind  feelings  en- 
gendered by  their  common  efforts  for  liberty  might  not 
have  endured  forever,  and  probably  would  not ;  as, 
under  the  relationship  of  a  closer  tie,  the  states  are  not 
always  in  the  best  of  harmony  with  each  other.  Each 
state  would,  as  a  sovereign  power,  have  required  navies, 
armies,  and  foreign  ministers ;  and,  in  the  regulation  of  its 
trade  and  commerce,  would  have  had  its  peculiar  scheme 
of  duties.  Had  there  been  no  union  effected,  and  had 
no  foreign  intrigues  ensued  to  subvert  the  independence 
of  one  or  all  of  the  states,  the  result  must  in  time  have 
been  an  absorption  of  all  the  smaller  by  a  few  large 
ones,  which,  being  situated  favorably  for  commerce, 
would  have  received  a  monstrous  growth. 

In  the  formation  of  the  Union,  the  surrender  of  ambi- 
tion, and  of  transcendent  prospects,  was  wholly  on  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  27 

part  of  the  larger  and  commercial  states.  The  small 
states  had  nothing  to  lose,  and  everything  to  gain,  by 
the  union ;  but,  for  the  larger  ones,  such  as  Massachu- 
setts, New  York,  and  Virginia,  with  their  Atlantic 
positions  and  large  territories,  to  enter  such  union, 
placing  themselves  on  a  par  with  the  least,  was  a  step 
that  might  require  some  estimate  of  the  gains  to  accrue 
therefrom.  The  gains  were  duly  estimated,  and  those 
states,  with  the  others,  met,  by  their  delegates,  at 
Philadelphia,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  May,  1787,  and 
continued  their  session  until  the  ITth  of  September,  be- 
fore they  could  agree  upon  a  Constitution,  under  which 
they  were  willing  to  become  merged  in  a  national  gov- 
ernment. In  that  Convention,  fortunately,  were  some 
of  the  first  statesmen  and  patriots  of  the  revolutionary 
period.  The  Convention  was  presided  over  by  GEORGE 
WASHINGTON,  who  threw  his  whole  soul  into  its  objects. 
Virginia  had  other  distinguished  men  in  that  body, 
such  as  James  Madison,  Edmund  Eandolph,  and  George 
Wythe.  From  Pennsylvania  were  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Kobert  Morris,  George  Clymer,  and  others  of  talent 
and  note.  From  New  York  were  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton, John  Lansing,  and  Robert  Yates.  John  Rut- 
ledge,  the  Pinckneys,  and  Pierce  Butler,  were  there 
from  South  Carolina  ;  Roger  Sherman  and  Oliver  Ells- 
worth from  Connecticut ;  and  Elbridge  Gerry,  Rufus 
King,  and  Caleb  Strong,  from  Massachusetts.  In  short, 
the  members  from  all  the  colonies  were  prominent  men. 
Minutes  of  the  debates  of  that  Convention  were  kept  by 
Mr.  Madison,  and  they  form  one  of  the  most  interesting 
works  we  have  connected  with  the  origin  of  our  gov- 
ernment. The  labor  upon  the  hands  of  that  Convention 
was  the  most  weighty  and  important  probably  that  ever 


28  A   HISTORY   OF 

devolved  upon  mortal  faculties.  The  selection  of  men 
for  that  labor  was  fortunate.  It  seems  as  though  the 
Deity  inspired  Virginia  to  send  Washington,  as  nothing 
could  have  been  more  fit  than  for  that  truly  great  and 
good  man  to  preside  at  such  a  convention.  Virginia 
was  not  only  among  the  first  to  adopt  the  Constitution, 
but  she  did  more  than  any  other  state  for  the  formation, 
of  the  Union.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  she  owned 
all  the  north-western  territory,  now  comprising  many 
flourishing  and  powerful  states,  and  voluntarily  surren- 
dered it  to  the  general  government,  as  an  act  of  justice 
to  her  sisters,  and  as  a  consideration  for  the  formation 
of  some  closer  union.  But,  notwithstanding  the  preca- 
rious situation  of  the  states  at  that  time,  and  the  deep 
anxiety  of  the  greatest  and  best  men  then  living,  and. 
notwithstanding  the  general  good  feeling  pervading  all 
the  states,  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the 
delegates  could  agree  on  a  Constitution.  It  is  said 
that  the  Convention  was  several  times  on  the  point  of 
breaking  up  and  dispersing  in  despair.  But,  finally, 
after  a  session  of  months,  the  Constitution  that  was 
subsequently  adopted,  was  agreed  upon,  and  transmit- 
ted to  the  old  Congress  for  submission  to  the  states  for 
approval.  It  is  certainly  an  astonishing  production; 
but  while  we  read  its  provisions  with  grateful  attention, 
we  should  not  forget  that  many  of  its  choicest  principles 
were  the  gifts  of  our  ancient  English  ancestors.  Our 
Constitution  was,  fortunately,  modelled  on  the  English 
constitution,  so  modifying  the*  latter  as  to  suit  our 
situation  and  condition. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  29 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  ELEMENTS   OF   POLITICAL  PARTIES  PEVELO  PEP   DURING   TIIE  ADMIN- 
ISTRATION   OF    WASHINGTON. METHOD    OF   ELECTING   THE   PRESIDENT 

BY     THE    COLLEGE     OF    ELECTORS    PROVIDED    BY    THE     CONSTITUTION, 

AND   THE   FAILURE    OF   THE    SYSTEM. THE    EFFECT   OF    THE    FRENCH 

REVOLUTION    IN   CREATING    PARTIES    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES. SOME 

OF   THE  CAUSES   OF  THE   FAILURE   OF   THE    FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

THE  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  adopted  in 
1788,  and  Washington's  administration  commenced  in 
March,  1789.  Washington  was  unanimously  chosen 
president  by  the  college  of  electors.  Political  parties 
were  not  fully  developed  during  his  administration,  al- 
though, as  we  shall  see,  their  elements,  during  that 
period,  began  to  manifest  themselves.  The  college  of 
electors,  as  constituted  under  the  Constitution,  answered 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed  at  the  first  presi- 
dential elections  ;  but  soon  it  became  a  useless  piece  of 
machinery.  It  was  judged  by  the  wise  framers  of  the 
Constitution  that  if  the  election  of  the  chief  executive 
of  the  nation  were  left  to  the  voice  of  the  mass  of  the 
people,  demagogues  might  triumph  over  modest  and 
meritorious  statesmen.  They  had  the  experience  of  the 
past  ages  of  the  world  to  warrant  them  in  this  belief. 
In  Greece  and  Rome,  and  every  other  land,  where  there 
had  been  liberty  enough  to  call  for  elections  at  all,  the 
prejudices  and  passions  of  the  masses  had  invariably 
prevailed  over  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the  few. 
Ambition,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  has  always  clothed 


30  A  HISTORY   OF 

itself  in  a  winning  garb.  Under  pretensions  of  friend- 
ship for  the  people,  the  fiercest  tyrants  of  old  won  their 
way  to  power.  What  though  a  few  could  always  see 
through  the  ambitious  designs  of  an  aspiring  dema- 
gogue ?  Has  it  not  ever  been  the  case  that  the  less 
fortunate  and  less  intelligent  portions  of  the  people 
have  been  influenced  uniformly  by  the  pretensions  of 
those  seeking  their  suffrages  ?  And,  as  merit  and  worth 
are  usually  modest  and  unassuming,  and  as  corrupt 
ambition  is  brazen  and  pretending,  it  is  not  so  strange 
that  demagogues  are  generally  the  surest  to  succeed, 
in  the  race  of  popularity,  with  the  people.  The  prem- 
ises and  conclusions  here  are  undoubtedly  correct,  as 
they  are  borne  out  by  all  history  ;  but  woe  to  the  poli- 
tician who  should  dare  to  assert  them  !  Republican 
governments  have  uniformly  been  destroyed  by  dema- 
gogism  ;  and  it  was  not  singular  that  our  fathers,  in 
establishing  a  government  for  this  country,  should 
endeavor  to  provide  some  safeguard  against  the  shoals 
on  which  all  other  free  governments  have  foundered. 
The  college  of  electors  was  the  result  of  their  precaution 
in  this  respect.  The  Constitution  provides  that  the 
people  of  each  state  shall  vote  for  presidential  electors, 
instead  of  voting  for  a  president.  It  was  contemplated, 
by  the  framers  of  that  instrument,  that  the  electors 
should  be  selected,  by  the  people  of  each  state,  on  ac- 
count of  their  being  the  most  intelligent,  weighty, 
and  patriotic,  of  their  fellow-citizens  ;  that  the  election 
of  the  president  should  be  left  solely  to  them  ;  and 
that,  in  such  election,  they  should  act  their  unbiassed 
judgment.  But,  as  every  one  sees,  the  patriotism  of 
parties  has  swept  away  the  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, and,  instead  of  being  elected  by  the  electors,  the 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  31 

presidents  are  now  elected  by  the  people.  That  is,  the 
electors  are  mere  men  of  straw,  committed  to  their 
course  of  conduct  before  their  election. 

But  scarcely  had  our  government  been  organized 
under  the  Constitution,  before  an  event,  or  a  train  of 
events,  commenced,  which  greatly  hastened  the  forma- 
tion of  political  parties  in  this  country.  The  French 
Revolution  is  alluded  to,  which  broke  out  in  September, 
1*789.  We  say  revolution ;  but  perhaps  it  would  be 
more  proper  to  say,  series  of  revolutions.  Louis  the 
Sixteenth,  a  virtuous  and  amiable  monarch,  was  then 
the  occupant  of  the  French  throne.  He  had  placed 
himself  in  a  singular  attitude,  with  respect  to  the  mon- 
archs  of  Europe,  by  lending  a  helping  hand  to  the  British 
colonies  in  their  struggle  for  independence  ;  but  Europe 
saw  that  it  was  with  no  censurable  motives  that  this  had 
been  done.  As  Austria,  Prussia,  and,  in  fact,  all  the 
continent,  looked  with  dread  upon  the  fast  growing 
power  of  Great  Britain,  under  the  policy  of  Pitt,  Louis 
was  not  only  pardoned  for,  but  was  encouraged  in,  his 
efforts  to  establish  the  liberties  of  the  American  colo- 
nies. But  the  results  of  this  interference  in  our  affairs 
are  well  known  to  the  world.  It  is  not  safe  for  a  mon- 
archy to  send  its  soldiers  abroad  to  fight  with  patriots 
for  the  rights  of  man.  French  officers  and  soldiers 
fought  under  the  immortal  Washington,  and  while  these 
battles  were  raging,  the  scarcely  less  immortal  Franklin 
walked  the  streets  of  Paris,  a  minister  at  the  French 
court.  And  it  was  with  the  spirit  of  liberty  as  with 
the  lightning,  of  which  Franklin  had  taught  the  world 
how  to  disarm  the  clouds  ;  it  was  not,  and  never  can 
be,  safe  for  a  body  in  a  negative  condition  to  be  put 
in  contact  with  one  in  the  positive  state.  Franklin  once, 
4 


32  A    HISTORY   OP 

in  connecting  his  electric  jar  to  the  clouds  by  a  kite, 
came  near  bringing  down  the  lightnings  upon  his  head ; 
and  Louis,  in  attempting  to  experiment  with  the  spirit 
of  freedom  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  was  not  suffi- 
ciently cautious  in  making  use  of  non-conducting  instru- 
ments, and  Europe  was  shaken  to  its  foundations  by  the 
shock  occasioned  by  the  passage  of  a  spark  of  that 
subtle  spirit  across  the  deep.  Louis,  that  gentle  mon- 
arch, whose  name  must  ever  be  regarded  with  respect 
and  gratitude  by  Americans,  lost  his  life  as  the  result. 
There  were  many  things  to  predispose  France  to  a 
revolution.  The  two  prior  monarchs,  Louis  the  Four- 
teenth and  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  had  been  extravagant 
and  improvident,  and  the  crown  came  to  Louis  the  Six- 
teenth, charged  with  burdens  which  proved  insupport- 
able. The  state  of  bankruptcy  into  which  the  kingdom 
had  been  brought,  by  the  extravagance  of  those  mon- 
archs, rendered  the  convocation  of  the  States-Gen- 
eral necessary  ;  and  this  step  was  but  the  signal  for  the 
revolution.  That  grand  national  convocation  had  not 
been  assembled  before  for  about  two  hundred  years, 
and  had  never  been  called  together  but  upon  very  ex- 
traordinary occasions.  It  consisted  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  nobility,  clergy,  and  the  people,  or  the 
tiers  etat,  as  they  were  called.  The  popular  branch 
which  had,  at  this  convocation,  been  doubled  at  the 
instance  of  M.  Necker,  contained  many  daring  spirits. 
But  what  not  a  little  surprises  the  reader  of  the  history 
of  that  period,  is  the  fact  that  large  masses  of  the  clergy 
and  nobility  of  the  States-General  were  disposed  to 
unite  with  the  popular  branch  in  wresting  from  the 
crown  of  France  some  of  its  oppressive  prerogatives, 
and  securing  for  the  nation  a  more  just,  liberal,  and 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  33 

equal  constitution.  The  press  in  France  had  been  for 
some  time  free,  and  the  subject  of  popular  rights  had 
been  agitated  boldly  by  the  ablest  writers  of  that  age. 
The  result  of  the  Kevolution  in  America,  and  the  majestic 
march  of  the  Americans  to  independence,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  national  government,  had  produced  a  pro- 
found sensation  in  the  minds  of  all  intelligent  men  in 
Europe.  The  profligacy  and  debauchery  of  the  French 
court,  under  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  had  disgusted  the  na- 
tion, and,  in  view  of  the  deplorable  condition  into  which 
the  crimes  of  the  monarchy  had  plunged  France,  it  was 
not  strange  that  her  best  people,  whether  noble,  clergy,  or 
lay,  should  feel  inclined  to  take  advantage  of  the  crisis  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  a  safer,  purer,  and  more  just  sys- 
tem of  government.  The  period  was  right  for  the  effort, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  nation  favorable.  The  reigning 
monarch  himself,  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  seemed  willing, 
and  pleased,  to  yield  to  any  reasonable  demand ;  and 
nothing  was  wanting  to  secure  France  a  safe,  just,  equal, 
and  durable  constitution,  but  political  wisdom  on  the 
part  of  the  French  people.  The  popular  power  met  with 
no  obstacle  to  anything  it  demanded,  until  revolution 
after  revolution  swept  away  all  rights.  There  were  in 
France  intelligent  and  somewhat  conservative  Repub- 
licans, whose  counsels,  if  heeded,  would  have  conferred 
blessings  on  that  country  ;  but  when  the  foundations  of 
all  government  are  once  up-turned,  and  everything 
made  to  hinge  on  the  popular  voice,  of  what  importance, 
in  a  nation  of  millions  of  people,  are  a  handful  of  intel- 
ligent and  conservative  individuals  ?  It  may  be  easy 
for  a  few  innovators,  by  dint  of  constant  agitation,  to 
induce  a  nation  to  become  dissatisfied  with,  and  throw 
off,  their  government ;  but  when  all  government  is  once 


34  A    HISTORY   OF 

at  an  end,  and  the  popular  will  made  supreme,  it  is  not 
always  so  easy  to  make  that  popular  will  again  submit 
to  the  control  of  constitutional  restraints. 

The  first  fruit  of  the  French  Revolution  was  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  National  Assembly,  which  wielded 
the  legislative  power  of  the  kingdom  ;  but  between  1789 
and  September,  1792,  when  the  monarchy  was  wholly 
overthrown,  and  Louis  the  Sixteenth  beheaded,  the  system 
of  government  adopted  by  the  revolutionists  was  several 
times  changed.  In  fact,  scarcely  any  constitution  that 
could  be  invented  would  endure  a  year,  and  many  of 
them  but  a  few  months.  The  government  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jacobins,  and  every  measure  of  importance 
was  arranged  at  their  club,  and  rarely  anything  trans- 
pired in  the  Assembly  as  an  act  of  deliberation.  The 
history  of  these  French  Jacobin  clubs  ought  to  teach 
every  sensible  mind  the  extreme  danger  of  suffering 
any  nation  for  a  moment  to  surrender  sacred  constitu- 
tional rights.  Perhaps  the  world  has  never  seen  any- 
thing bloodier  or  more  cruel  in  the  way  of  civil  war. 
Power  reigned  without  justice,  reason,  or  mercy ;  and  for 
a  period  the  government  in  France  was  rightly  called 
the  Reign  of  Terror.  Marat,  Danton,  and  Robespierre  — 
well  may  the  world  turn  pale  at  the  mention  of  their 
names  !  But,  after  all,  probably  they  did  no  more  than 
any  leaders,  under  like  circumstances,  seeking  at  all 
hazards  to  carry  out  peculiar  views,  would  be  obliged 
to  do.  They  are  not  all  spoken  of  as  men  by  nature 
innately  cruel  and  bloody-minded ;  but  it  was  the  exi- 
gency of  their  mission  that  called  for  the  assassination 
and  murder  of  millions  of  the  French  clergy  and  gentry. 
To  render  France  safe  under  the  government  that  ig- 
nored their  castes  and  rights,  those  privileged  classes 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  35 

must  be  extirpated  ;  and,  should  a  like  predicament  oc- 
cur to  a  large  popular  faction  in  any  other  country,  — 
should  all  government  be  swept  away,  and  the  prevail- 
ing faction,  true  to  their  mission  of  crushing  out  the 
rights  of  other  classes  regarded  as  privileged,  unless 
disposed  to  compromise  with  sin  and  injustice,  which 
leading  political  saints  are  rarely  disposed  to  do,  —  the 
bloody  acts  of  the  French  Revolution  would  necessarily 
be  reenacted.  Reformers  are  too  little  apt  to  reflect 
that  without  compromise  no  government  nor  society  on 
earth  can  possibly  exist.  In  France,  how  many  trials 
were  made  during  the  revolutionary  period  !  The  his- 
tory of  their  National  Assembly,  their  Convention,  their 
Directory,  their  Consular  government,  and  their  Impe- 
rial government,  will  show.  Had  moderate,  wise,  and 
conservative  measures  been  acquiesced  in  at  the  outset 
of  these  revolutions,  the  people,  clergy,  nobility,  and 
monarchy,  would  all  have  concurred,  and  France  would 
have  taken  a  step  forward  in  the  career  of  freedom  and 
prosperity ;  but  rash,  impracticable,  and  head-hot  and 
head-strong  men  rushed  into  the  storm  as  champions  of 
the  people,  and  of  divine  popular  rights  ;  and  the  result 
was  that  the  progress  of  the  grand  nation,  in  every- 
thing beneficial  to  the  human  race,  was  backwards. 
4* 


36  A    HISTORY   OP 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  AMERICAN  GOVERNMENT  FORMED  ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OP  THE  ENG- 
LISH CONSTITUTION,  MODIFIED  TO  SUIT  OUR  REPUBLICAN  CONDITION. 
—  NARROW  ESCAPE  FROM  THE  CONTAGION  OF  FRENCH  JACOBINISM. — 
THE  FEDERALISTS  IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  AS  ADOPTED. — 
THE  ANTI-FEDERALISTS. — THE  FEDERALISTS  AND  REPUBLICANS. 

ON  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  Revolution,  it  was 
very  natural  that  Americans  should  feel  deeply  inter- 
ested for  the  French  people ;  and  undoubtedly  that  event 
had  a  powerful  influence  in  establishing  the  Reputffi c an 
party  in  this  country.  In  France,  the  moderate  Repub- 
licans were  anxious  to  adopt  a  Constitution  based  upon 
the  principles  of  the  English  or  American  Constitution  ; 
but  the  popular  party  were  not  to  be  satisfied  with  any 
institution  that  infringed  in  the  slightest  degree  on  lib- 
erty. America  had  been  more  fortunate.  At  the  close 
of  her  Revolution,  which  placed  the  supreme  power  Af 
the  country  in  the  people,  it  fortunately  happened  that 
the  principal  leading  men  throughout  all  the  states 
were,  with  but  few  exceptions,  unambitious,  upright, 
conservative,  and  judicious  statesmen.  The  Revolu- 
tion had  successfully  terminated  under  the  auspices  of 
these  men ;  and,  when  the  adoption  of  a  constitution  was 
undertaken,  their  influence  remained  unimpaired  with 
the  masses  of  the  people.  They  were  partial  to  the 
laws  and  institutions  which  had  been  their  birthright, 
and  which  were  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  spirit  and 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  37 

genius  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  As  America  was  really 
the  offspring,  the  child  of  England,  it  was  natural 
enough  that  the  free  spirit  of  the  British  Constitution 
should  animate  her.  The  American  Revolution  itself, 
seen  during  all  its  stages,  seems  more  like  a  birth  than 
a  civil  war,  and  the  colonies,  from  their  first  appearance, 
were  really  but  the  imperfectly  defined  lineaments  of  an 
embryo  kingdom  or  state.  After  emancipation  from  the 
control  of  the  parent  government,  although  this  enfran- 
chisement had  only  been  achieved  by  a  bloody  struggle 
with  that  domineering  parent,  the  best  wisdom  of  young 
America  instructed  her  that  her  future  safety,  power, 
and  glory,  were  to  be  attained  by  a  preservation  here 
of  that  Constitution  which  had  grown  up  with  the  growth 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  which  was  her  legitimate 
inheritance.  That,  in  cleaving  to  the  British  form  of 
government,  modified,  of  course,  to  suit  their  changed 
circumstances,  our  fathers  not  only  obeyed  the  dic- 
tates of  nature,  but  likewise  acted  wisely,  subsequent 
events  have  fully  demonstrated  ;  still,  at  the  time  of 
the  adoption  of  our  Constitution,  there  were  many  who 
were  opposed  to  it.  The  controversies  in  regard  to  it, 
during  the  years  1787  and  1788,  were  carried  on  with  a 
great  deal  of  spirit.  Those  who-Ja^epe4--4heJQQnstitu- 
tion  as  adopted,  following,  in  the  division  of  the  legis- 
lative assembly  into  an  upper  and  lower  house,  and  in 
the  construction  of  the  judiciary  and  the  creation  of  the 
executive  departments,  the  English  system,  were  called 
Federalists  ;  and  those  who  were  opposed  to  that  pro- 
posed federal  system  were  styled  anti-Federalists.  The 
people  at  large  were  so  incensed  against  the  mother 
country  that  any  system  of  government  acknowledged 
to  resemble  hers,  would  naturally  encounter  great  preju- 


•J 


38  A   HISTORY   OF 

dices  ;  but  men  of  clearer  and  deeper  views  saw,  in  the 
recent  contest  with  England,  not  the  test,  but  the  abuse 
of  her  admirable  Constitution.  Under  that  Constitution, 
the  wisdom  of  England,  as  a  general  thing,  rules  ;  and 
hence  her  unexampled  stability,  power,  and  prosperity. 
But  what  would  she  probably  have  accomplished  under 
the  auspices  of  a  Convention,  a  Directory,  a  National 
Assembly,  or  a  Consulate  ?  France,  no  doubt,  with  a 
form  of  government  that  had  mingled  the  popular  with 
the  aristocratic  element,  and  had  secured,  in  the  service 
of  her  legislature,  the  wisdom  of  the  kingdom,  would 
have  attained  all  that  the  heart  of  patriotism  could 
desire.  Fortunately,  America  was  called  upon  to  estab- 
lish her  national  governmental  charter  before  the  minds 
of  her  people  had  been  poisoned  and  distracted  by  the 
terrible  isms  of  demagogues.  At  that  day  her  wisest 
and  purest  citizens  stood  high  in  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  as  there  had  not  been  time  for  the  envy  and 
jealousy  of  conceited  reformers  and  restless  agitators 
to  undermine  and  destroy  their  influence.  If,  at  the 
present  day,  a  Constitution  for  this  country  were  to  be 
framed,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  would  be  formed  by  its  best 
intelligence.  As  it  was,  the  Constitution  met  with  much 
opposition  from  prejudice  and  ignorance. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  Kevolution  the 
sympathy  for  France  and  hatred  of  England-were  more 
apparent  and  decisive,  in  this  country,  than  ever.  France 
seemed  to  claim,  as  a  matter  of  right,  that  America 
should  espouse  her  quarrel  with  England,  and  many 
Americans  were  disposed  to  join  their  Gaulic  friend,  as 
in  a  crusade  in  behalf  of  the  freedom  of  the  world. 
That  that  was  a  trying  period  for  the  republic  of  the 
United  States,  is  very  evident.  Fortunately  for  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  39 

destiny  of  this  country,  Washington  was  at  the  head 
of  government,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  newly-established  Constitution  was,  in  a 
great  degree,  owing  to  his  great  personal  popularity. 
His  administration  was  in  many  respects  contrary  to 
the  feelings  of  large  masses  of  the  people,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  Federalists,  with  a  president  less  influ- 
ential, could  have  succeeded  in  the  measures  they  car- 
ried out  under  Washington's  presidency.  It  was_under_^ 
his  administration  that  the  Democratic  or  Republi- 
can party,  as  then  called,  began  to  have  an  existence. 
-Thomas  Jeiferson,  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and 
thorough-going  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  one  of 
the  first  to  bid  defiance  to  George  the  Third,  and 
who  was  venerated  as  almost  equal  to  Washington,  on 
account  of  being  the  author  of  that  production  more 
cherished  and  thought  of,  by  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple, than  any  other  human  composition,  —  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  —  was,  at  the  time  of  the 
formation  of  the  Constitution,  absent  from  the  country. 
He  was  at  the  French  court  from  1*784  till  1789,  when 
he  returned,  and,  at  Washington's  solicitation,  took 
a  seat  in  the  cabinet,  as  Secretary  of  State.  Born  and 
bred  to  free  principles,  and  instructed  in  the  revolution- 
ary doctrines  at  home  by  such  men  as  Patrick  Henry, 
and  then  for  five  years  thrown  into  the  association  of 
those  powerful  French  revolutionists,  many  of  them 
philosophers  and  men  of  genius,  it  would  be  by  no  means 
singular  if  his  ideas  were  fully  up  to  his  age  for  sound 
and  unwavering  democracy.  No  one  has  doubted  the 
entire  sincerity  of  Jefferson's  democracy.  He  was  a 
natural  lover  of  freedom  and  free  principles,  and  prob- 
ably no  man  lived,  in  his  age,  who  labored  more  ardently 


40  A  HISTORY   OF 

than  he  for  popular  rights ;  and  but  few  exceeded  him 
in  the  amount  of  services  rendered  in  behalf  of  our  in- 
dependence. But  Mr.  Jefferson  was  not  wholly  satis- 
fied  with  all  ibbe  features  of rthe  Constitution r  and  was 
far  from  relishing  the  admiration  expressed  by  the  Fed- 
eralists for  the  British  form  of  government.  He  would 
not  have  such  a  body  as  the  senate  ;  would  simply  have 
representatives  immediately  from  the  people,  that  in  all 
measures  the  pure  popular  will  might  more  readily  and 
certainly  be  realized.  This  would  form  a  government 
much,  if  not  precisely,  like  the  National  Assembly  of 
France.  The  fact  is,  Jefferson  was  an  intensg.  hater  of 
the  haughty  and  overbearing  lords  and  aristrocrats  of 
England,  and  was  not  pleased  to  see  the  English  theory 
of  government  embraced  in  the  American  institutions, 
and  looked  with  impatience  upon  those  Americans  who, 
he  thought,  took  too  fondly  to  the  British  model. 

Alexander  Hamilton,  also  a  member  of  Washington's 
cabinet,  — the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  — was  one  of 
the  leading  Federalists ;  one  who  had  almost  idolized  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  English  Constitution  :  we 
mean,  of  course,  that  Constitution  when  divested  of  its 
aristocratic  privileges.  Mr.  Hamilton,  it  was  asserted, 
had  been  in  favor  of  a  Constitution  more  resembling  the 
British  model,  than  the  one  adopted.  He  favored,  so 
his  opponents  said,  a  longer  term  for  the  office  of  sena- 
tor ;  and  the  executive  he  would  have  hold  his  place 
during  good  behavior.  These  were  alleged  to  be  prop- 
ositions advanced  by  him  in  the  Convention,  or  other- 
wheres, although  not  insisted  on  against  the  opin- 
ions of  others.  Excepting  Washington,  perhaps  there 
was  scarcely  any  one  whose  labors  accomplished  more 
in  establishing  the  Constitution  than  those  of  Hamilton. 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  41 

He  was  truly  an  able  and  brilliant  statesman.  He  had 
been  much  associated  with  Washington  during  the  Rev- 
olution ;  had  been  his  aide-de-camp,  confidential  secre- 
tary, friend  and  adviser,  on  many  critical  occasions. 
Washington  evidently  reposed  great  confidence  in  his 
intelligence,  penetration,  and  judgment ;  and  looked 
with  the  greatest  partiality  on  his  probity,  honor,  and 
patriotism.  As  the  friend  of  the  Father  of  his  country, 
—  one  in  whom  that  illustrious  character  reposed  more 
than  usual  confidence  in  affairs  of  the  highest  moment, 
and  of  whose  worth  and  friendship  he  never  had  a 
doubt,  —  Alexander  Hamilton's  name  will  go  down  to 
the  latest  ages.  John  Adams  was  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  and  was  ranked  among  the  first  of  the 
Federalists,  although  he  was  absent  from  the  coun 
try,  as  a  minister  to  France,  until  after  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Constitution.  Adams  was  one  of  the  firs* 
that  raised  his  voice  against  the  encroachments  of  Eng- 
land upon  the  rights  of  the  colonists,  and  was  one  of 
the  main  spokes  in  the  wheel  of  the  Revolution.  He 
was  a  man  of  superior  judgment,  extreme  clearness  of 
views,  incorruptible  integrity,  unblemished  honor,  and 
unexcelled  patriotism.  When  the  question  of  the  forma- 
tion of  a  government  for  these  states  arose,  Adams  was, 
with  other  statesmen,  in  favor  of  a  strong  and  durable 
one.  His  partiality  for  what  was  called  the  British 
Constitution  —  that  is,  for  the  principle  of  dividing  the 
governing  power  into  three  departments  :  an  executive, 
a  judiciary,  and  a  legislative  body  consisting  of  an  upper 
and  lower  house  —  characterized  him  as  a  Federalist. 
The  Secretary  of  War,  under  Washington's  administra- 
tion, was  John  Knox,  a  well-known  revolutionary  gen- 
eral. It  is  said  that  he  ranked  as  a  Federalist ;  but  the 


42  A  HISTORY   OF 

Attorney  General,  Edmund  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  was, 
like  Jefferson,  disposed  to  encourage,  in  the  formation 
and  administration  of  government,  principles  of  a  more 
democratic  tendency.  In  short,  without  going  into  a 
minute  history  of  the  controversies  and  discussions 
attendant  on  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  the 
administration  of  the  government  under  it,  it  is  suffi- 
cient here  to  state  that  the  Constitution  itself  was  a  com- 
promise between  those  who  sought  for  a  strong  govern- 
ment, and  those  who  were  for  having  one  of  a  more 
democraticjcast.  But  as  that  was  an  age  of  democratic 
ideas,  and  as  anything  savoring  of  popular  rights  was 
exceedingly  palatable  to  the  masses,  the  expressions 
made  use  of  by  Hamilton,  Adams,  and  others,  favoring 
the  principles  of  the  British  Constitution,  were  caught 
up  and  repeated  much  to  their  disadvantage,  by  those 
who  looked  upon  anything  British  as  unfavorable  to 
liberty.  The  Federalists  were  charged  with  meditating 
the  establishment  of  a  monarchy,  and  orders  of  nobility  ; 
and  doubtless  many  of  those  days  credited  such  charges. 
That  the  Federalists,  especially  of  a  somewhat  later 
period,  were  too  partial  to  England,  and  were  even  too 
much  in  favor  of  the  aristocratic,  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  democratic,  element  of  society,  many  even  to  the 
present  day  believe  ;  but  that  they  were  ever  anything 
but  pure  republicans  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  assert. 

If  this  were,  instead  of  a  hasty  sketch  of  the  origin 
of  political  parties  in  the  United  States,  a  history  of  the 
administration  of  Washington,  it  would  afford  us 
great  pleasure  to  record  the  triumphs  of  Hamilton's 
genius  in  his  administration  of  the  Treasury  depart- 
ment. All  accord  him  transcendent  abilities  ;  and  that 
'the  principles,  at  the  outset  of  our  republic,  when 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  43 

all  was  in  chaos,  developed  by  him,  remain  the  basis 
upon  which  our  government,  in  the  department  presided 
over,  by  him,  has  ever  since  beeii  administered,  is  ample 
evidence  of  his  abilities.  But  few  men  were  ever  more 
unlike  in  feelings,  views,  and  principles,  than  Hamilton 
and  Jejferson.  They  disagreed  on  many  important 
questions,  and  it  was  but  a  short  time  after  the  forma- 
tion of  the  government  under  the  Constitution,  before 
each  had  his  friends  arid  admirers,  who  were  gradually 
--arranged  into  c-p£psite  parties.  There  were  many 
things  to  promote  these  party  divisions.  The  French 
Revolution  has  been  alluded  to,  and  was  the  prominent 
one.  In  17^.  when  Frar-^p  wp«  r 


enthusiasm  in  favor  of  that  country  ran  high  in  the 
United  States.  Banquets  were  held  in  honor  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  sympathy  in  many  ways  ex- 
pressed. At  first,  the  course  taken  by  European  af- 
fairs seemed  so  auspicious  for  liberty,  that  Americans 
generally  felt  their  hearts  pulsate  in  unison  with  the 
strides  of  freedom  in  France  ;  but  the  displays  of 
unbridled  license  and  cruelty,  which  soon  ensued,  filled 
the  minds  of  the  judicious  with  concern,  and  strength- 
ened the  federal  administration  in  those  feelings  of 
neutrality  as  to  European  conflicts,  which  their  judg- 
ment had  taught  them  to  be  in  accordance  with  correct 
principles.  After  revolutionary  France  had  become 
enlisted  in  war  with  England,  it  was  natural  that  those 
Americans  who  would  suffer  their  feelings  to  act  in 
defiance  of  correct  policy,  if  not  of  correct  principles, 
should  think  America  ought  to  espouse  the  cause  of  her 
old  ally  against  her  recent  enemy.  But  Washington 
and  his  cabinet  were  too  faithful  guardians  at  the  head 
of  government  to  suffer  such  a  suicidal  step.  When, 


44-  A   HISTORY    OF 

therefore,  in  1793,  Washington's  proclamation  of  neutral- 
itv^was  issued,  the  frieiicls  and  sympathizers  of  France, 
and  bitter  enemies  of  England,  were  greatly  excited. 
Washington  was  generally  spared  denunciation  ;  but 
the  Federalists,  in  and  out  of  his  cabinet,  and  Hamilton 
especially,  were  violently  denounced.  In  1793,'  "  Cit- 
izen "  Genet  came  to  the  United  States  as  a  French 
minister.  He  landed  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  voyaged 
to  Philadelphia.  The  warmest  demonstrations  of  popu- 
lar favor  greeted  him  wherever  he  appeared,  the  people 
meeting  him  in  vast  numbers,  rendering  his  progress 
that  of  a  triumphal  march.  But,  notwithstanding  he 
everywhere  was  warmly  greeted  by  the  masses  of  the 
people,  he  found  he  could  not  prevail  on  the  President 
nor  his  cabinet  to  depart  from  a  course  of  strict  neu- 
trality. The  mission  of  Genet  seemed  to  be  to  enlist 
the  United  States  with  France  in  the  war  against  Great 
Britain  ;  or,  failing  in  this,  to  himself  carry  on  war 
against  that  country  from  the  United  States,  by  enlist- 
ing men,  fitting  out  cruisers,  etc.,  etc.  But  when  he 
found  that  the  President  would  in  no  case  permit  such 
transactions,  it  is  said  that  he  threatened  to  appeal  from 
the  government  to  the  people!  At  the  request  of  the 
President,  "Citizen"  Genet  was  recalled;  but  his 
mission  showed  the  precarious  situation  of  the  country 
at  that  time,  and  enables  us  to  see  how  much  we  are 
indebted  to  the  moral  power  and  influence  of  the  great 
and  good  Washington,  whose  arm  alone,  unsupported  by 
the  mass  of  his  countrymen,  protected  our  infant  repub- 
lic from  the  wiles  of  foreign  intrigues.  As,  perhaps, 
the  fruits  of  Genet's  visit,  democratic  societies  were 
formed  in  this  country,  in  imitation,  it  has  been  said,  of 
the  Jacobin  clubs  of  France.  They  were  secret  organ- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  45 

izations,  holding-  correspondence  with  each  other  ;  and 
it  has  been  supposed  that  it  was  to  them  that  Washing- 
ton alluded  in  his  Farewell  Address,  where  he  warns 
his  countrymen  against  secret  political  societies.  They 
had  but  a  short  existence,  but  were  probably  service- 
able in  concentrating  into  a  party  organization  those 
who  wWp  growing  ^'g+™°*f"l  <>f +I-IQ  Partaroliafg  There 
were,  it  is  true,  other  matters  agitated  by  Congress 
under  Washington's  administration,  on  which  there  was 
a  difference  of  views  between  the  Federalists  and  their 
opponents.  The  question  of  state  rights  was  warmly 
debated.  There  was  quite  an  excited  controversy  as  to 
tne  debts  against  the  government,  and  touching  those 
against  the  states  to  be  assumed  by  the  general  gov- 
ernment. Iii  1791,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was 
chartered,  occasioning  some  controversy ;  the  Federal- 
ists generally  maintaining  its  constitutionality,  —  their 
opponents  the  reverse.  Also  the  impressment  of  Amer- 
ican seamen  by  British  men-of-war  was  a  subject  of  much 
perplexity,  none  apologizing  for,  but  the  opponents 
of  the  administration  loudly  condemning,  such  acts  as 
illegal,  and  a  cause  of  war.  But  perhaps  the  excite- 
ment at  no  time  ran  so  high  against  Washington,  as  on 
the  negotiation  of  the  Jay  Treaty  with  England,  1794 
and  1795.  But,  notwithstanding  the  popular  clamor  of 
the  day,  time,  it  is  believed,  has  fully  confirmed  the 
wisdom  and  entire  propriety  of  that  measure. 

These  different  events  and  measures  are  alluded  to,  to 
show  by  what  steps  the  opposition  of  those  days  came 
into  being,  and  into  power  ;  by  what  means  and  causes 
those  old  Federalists,  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution,  and 

ttjjjrf    $  y|^/V- 

the  Salons  of  the  constitutional  convention,  were  ren- 
dered unacceptable  to  the  American  people,  and  were 
made  to  yield  their  places  in  the  national  councils  to 


40  A     HISTORY    OF 

persons  of  other  views,  feelings,  and  principles.  That 
there  should  be  a  revolution  occasionally  in  the  parties 
of  a  country  is  no  doubt  beneficial  and  necessary. 
Within  certain  limits  parties  are  useful ;  as  without* 
them  we  can  hardly  conceive  that  political  economy,  as 
a  science,  would  receive  much  attention.  To  party  is 
America,  as  well  as  England,  indebted  for  the  highest 
orders  of  statesmen.  It  gives  life  to  political  science, 
and  is  no  doubt  a  safeguard  as  well  as  sometimes  a 
destroyer  of  free  institutions.  That  the  Federalists  in 
some  things,  especially  at  a  somewhat  later  period, 
went  too  far  in  submitting  to  the  domineering  power  of 
England,  many  will,  at  the  present  time,  concede  ;  and 
likewise,  that  the  Republicans,  as  the  opposition  were 
called,  on  the  other  hand,  were,  in  many  things,  too 
radical,  and  too  little  inclined  to  submit  to  constitu- 
tional restraints,  will  be  conceded  by  just  as  many. 
That  the  Federalists  should  be  at  the  helm  in  the  outset, 
and  lay  the  foundation  of  the  government,  and  then 
yield  to  a  party  that  had  had  the  influence  of  their 
example  and  discipline  for  twelve  years,  was,  doubtless, 
no  unfortunate  thing  for  the  country,  as  then  situated  ; 
nay,  the  event  shows  that  it  was  for  its  substantial  ser- 
vice. The  overthrow  of  the  Federalists  was,  like  the 
overthrow  of  any  political  party,  only  a  political  de- 
feat, with  a  free  course  before  them  for  future  tri- 
umphs. These  parties  have  continued  from  their  origin 
until  a  recent  date,  both  occasionally  changed  as  to 
names,  adherents,  leaders,  and  principles,  and  alternat- 
ing in  their  ascendency  in  the  government  of  the  coun- 
try. As  the  Federal  was  in  reality  the  parent  of  the 
late  Whig  party,  and  as  it  is  of  the  latter  that  we  pro- 
pose to  give  some  account,  it  will  be  necessary  to  pur- 
sue a  little  further  its  destiny. 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  47 


CHAPTER   Y. 

JEFFERSON    THE    FOUNDER    OF    THE    REPUBLICAN    PARTY. THE   DECLINE 

OF   THE   FEDERAL    PARTY. WASHINGTON'S    RETIREMENT   AND    FARE- 
WELL ADDRESS. —  JOHN  ADAMS'  ELECTION  IN  1796. — TREATMENT  OP 

THE    UNITED      STATES     BY     ENGLAND.  IMPRESSMENT    OF   SEAMEN. 

THE    NEUTRAL   POLICY    OF    THE   FEDERAL   ADMINISTRATION,  ETC.  ETC. 

WHATEVER  may  be  said  of  the  Republican  party,  as  it 
existed  in  the  times  of  Jefferson,  as  to  the  propriety  of 
its  issues,  no  one  can  deny  that  the  Republicans  them- 
selves, so  far  as  they  espoused  party  measures, 
meant  well  for  the  country.  They  were  patriots, 
warmly  devoted  to  the  cause  of  human  liberty,  and  will- 
ing to  perish  in  the  defence  of  their  country.  The  party 
was  no  sectional  organization,  but  was,  and  ever  has 
been,  intensely  national.  Jefferson,  the  founder  of 
American  Democracy,  was  in  heart  and  soul  a  lover  of 
freedom.  The  party  that  formed  around  him  was  one 
whose  watchword  was  Liberty.  It  was  a  party  con- 
sisting of  men  who  were  fired  with  fierce  indignation 
towards  England  for  attempting  to  fasten  the  chains  of 
slavery  upon  them  ;  and  although  that  party  had  not,  at 
the  outset,  so  many  men  of  wealth,  and  of  highly  cul- 
tivated minds,  as  composed  the  Federal  party,  it  never- 
theless abounded  in  patriots  —  those  who  were  willing 
to  face  the  cannon's  mouth  in  the  defence  of  their  liber- 
ties. It  is  but  natural  that  freemen  should  be  jealous 
of  their  liberties.  The  greatest  fault  that  can  be  charged 
upon  the  old  Republicans  is,  that  they  were  perhaps  a 
5* 


48  A   HISTORY    OP 

little  too  jealous  of  their  rights,  and  carried  their  poli- 
tics somwhat  too  far  ;  that,  in  their  excess  of  zeal  for 
the  world's  freedom,  they  were  in  danger  of  wrecking 
the  vessel  freighted  with  their  own.  But,  if  this  charge 
be  just,  it  was  fortunate  that  they  encountered  the  old  Fed- 
eral party,  whose  prominence  in  the  land  thwarted  and 
counteracted  their  less  conservative  principles.  The  his- 
tory of  Washington's  administration  shows  the  gradual 
decline  of  the  Federal  organization,  and  the  correspond- 
ing growth  of  the  Republican  party.  As  early  as  1^93^ 
on  some  party  measures,  the  Federalists  were  in  the 
minority  in  Congress,  although  it  was  not  until  1800 
that  the  Republicans  'had  an  ascendency  amongst  the 
people.  At  the  close  of  Washington's  administration 
John  Adams  was  by  a  majority  of  three  in  the  electoral 
college  elected  President,  and  held  the  office  one  term  ; 
after  which,  in  1800,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  elected  by 
the  House  of  Representatives,  there  having  been  no 
choice  by  the  people.  When  Washington,  at  the  close 
of  his  second  term,  took  leave  of  the  presidency,  he 
presented  to  his  countrymen  his  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 
In  making  that  address,  he  consulted  propriety  less 
than  duty.  The  propriety  of  the  act  was  unques- 
tionable, and  recognized  by  the  whole  world.  He  had 
been  the  leader  in  the  Revolution  ;  his  discretion,  wis- 
dom, and  prudence,  had  saved  the  revolutionary  army, 
and  exhausted,  and  finally  captured,  the  forces  of  the 
adversary  ;  he  had  throughout  encountered  every  obsta- 
cle that  envy,  jealousy,  and  the  passions  of  man,  could 
throw  in  his  way ;  generals  in  the  army,  and  knaves 
out  of  it,  had  conspired  against  him  ;  and  nothing  but 
his  firmness,  patriotism,  and  heroism,  enabled  him  to 
hold  together  naked  and  starving  men,  and  finally  lead 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  49 

his  countrymen  to  victory  and  peace.  Every  candid 
reader  of  history  will  say  that,  without  Washington, 
our  independence  could  never  have  been  achieved. 
And  then,  when  peace  was  established,  and  the  pas- 
sions of  disunited  and  jealous  states  were  wrangling 
about  state  rights  and  confederations,  it  was  only 
under  the  auspices  of  the  beloved  Father  of  his  Country 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  could  be  led  to 
unite  their  destinies  under  a  general  government,  and 
consent  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  And 
finally,  when,  with  shrieks  for  freedom,  anarchy  reared 
its  awful  head,  and  the  peace  and  stability  of  the  new- 
born American  republic  were  threatened  by  the  yawn- 
ing gulf  of  French  Jacobinism,  nothing  but  the  composed, 
serene  arid  majestic  brow  of  Washington  could  speak 
safety  to  his  countrymen,  and  allay  the  fiend  of  discord. 
He  felt  that  the  newly  adopted  government  was  an 
experiment,  but  an  experiment  freighted  with  the  liber- 
ties of  America.  More  nations  have  conquered  freedom 
than  have  preserved  it.  Courage,  which  is  not  uncom- 
mon, may  extort  freedom  from  the  oppressor  ;  but  only 
wisdom,  which  is  very  rare,  can  render  the  acquisition 
secure. 

Washington  had  done  so  much  towards  establishing 
the  liberties  of  his  country,  that,  on  ceasing  longer  to 
take  a  part  in  public  affairs,  he  felt  he  could  not  with 
propriety  withdraw  from  his  elevated  position,  as  chief 
magistrate  of  the  nation,  without  giving  his  country- 
men his  parting  advice.  And  the  counsels  of  that 
affectionate  Farewell  Address  now  speak  to  us  as  a 
voice  from  his  tomb.  They  were  the  counsels  of  one 
who  wished  the  American  republic  to  be  perpetual. 
His  eyes  glanced  down  to  future  ages ;  he  foresaw  the 


50  A   HISTORY    OF 

difficulties  which  coming  time  had  in  store ;  and  with 
marvellous  wisdom  he  laid  down  the  principles,  and  put 
forth  the  cautions,  which,  if  regarded,  will  unfailingly 
secure  the  lasting  union  and  prosperity  of  these  states. 
Washington  was  acquainted  with  the  ill-success  which 
had,  in  past  ages  of  the  world,  attended  the  establish- 
ment of  republican  and  democratic  governments ; 
and  he  well  knew,  and  most  keenly  felt,  that  there  was 
but  a  single  hope  for  the  success  of  the  government 
here,  in  the  formation  of  which  he  had  taken  so  great  a 
part.  Would  or  would  not  the  Americans  have  the 
wisdom  and  stability  to  seize  hold  of,  and  stand  by,  the 
only  possible  means  of  rendering  the  republican  insti- 
tutions, for  which  there  was  so  great  an  exultation,  per- 
manent ?  His  Farewell  Address  shows  with  what 
intense  anxiety  the  Father  of  his  Country  saw  this  re- 
public launched  upon  the  "  tide  of  experiment,"  and  how 
impressively  he  besought  its  helmsmen  to  never  lose 
sight  of  that  compass  by  the  aid  of  which  there  can  be 
no  storm  it  cannot  outride.  If  republics  can  ever  be- 
come successful  and  permanent,  it  must  be  through  the 
instrumentality  of  constitutions.  So  long  as  the  con- 
stitution of  a  country  is  regarded  as  a  sacred  law,  —  so 
long  as  all  parts  and  sections  of  the  commonwealth  are 
united  in  yielding  full  and  entire  obedience  to  it ;  feel- 
ing that  it  is  an  instrument  on  which  their  dearest 
rights  are  dependent,  —  a  republic  may  be  safe  ;  for  all 
republics  have  been  destroyed  by  enemies  from  within, 
not  from  without.  In  his  Farewell  Address  Wash- 
ington dwells  long  and  intently  on  this.  In  fact, 
to  teach  one  to  observe  and  cherish  the  Constitution,  is 
to  teach  him  union,  and  every  other  principle  and  duty 
embraced  in  that  instrument.  He  warned  his  country- 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  51 

f 

men  against  all  sectional  animosities,  and"  recommended 
that  union,  above  all  things,  should  be  cherished  as  the 
palladium  of  their  liberties,  and  pointed  out  the  many 
methods  by  which,  unless  the  American  people  should 
remain  constantly  on  their  guard,  their  government 
might  be  shipwrecked. 

John  Adams  succeeded  Washington  as  President  in 
1796,  having  been  elected  over  Thomas  Jefferson  by  a 
very  slight  majority.  Jefferson  was  the  candidate  of 
the  Republican  party.  Notwithstanding  the  excesses 
of  the  French  Revolution  had  very  much  dampened  the 
ardor  of  that  portion  of  the  American  people  who  had 
been  in  favor  of  espousing  the  cause  of  France  in  her 
war  with  England,  still  much  occurred  to  nourish  the 
hatred  of  Americans  generally  towards  the  latter.  Eng- 
land, in  the  peace  of  1783,  did  not  yield  to  her  destiny 
with  very  good  grace.  As  she  had,  in  the  war  against 
her  colonies,  to  encounter  France  and  Spain,  our  vener- 
able mother  saw  the  necessity  of  giving  up  the  strug- 
gle ;  but  as  soon  as  the  weapons  of  her  two  European 
foes  were  withdrawn  from  her  breast,  she  was  far  from 
honorable,  or  just,  in  the  manner  of  executing  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  the  United  States.  The  forts  and 
stations,  held  by  Britain  upon  our  borders,  were  not 
given  up  with  any  degree  of  cordial  alacrity,  nor  were 
her  forces  withdrawn  as  readily  as  they  might  and 
ought  to  have  been.  Our  country  had  much  to  suffer 
from  her  unfriendly  and  haughty  disposition.  The 
states  were  not  united,  and  had  no  government  worthy 
of  the  name.  Immediately  on  the  announcement  of  the 
peace,  our  ill-clad  and  unpaid  army  was  disbanded. 
Of  course  there  was  no  navy ;  and  what  could  be  done 
but  to  submit  to  the  superciliousness  of  a  power  which, 


52  A   HISTORY   OF 

under  all  the  circumstances,  could  not  have  been  in  a 
very  amiable  humor  towards  us?  American  officers, 
throughout  the  Revolution,  had  been  the  objects  of  ridi- 
cule amongst  the  aristocrats  of  the  British  camp,  as, 
indeed,  had  the  American  patriots,  and  everything 
American,  amongst  the  parasites  of  the  English  court. 
This  feeling  of  contempt  for  everything  American, —  this 
disposition  to  treat  with  ridicule  the  manners,  habits, 
and  customs,  of  Americans,  and  to  sneer  at  American 
institutions, — is  not  even  at  the  present  day  entirely 
subdued  in  the  lordly  heart  of  Mr.  Bull.  For  years 
after  the  Revolution  nothing  could  more  nauseate  that 
gentleman  than  to  hear  the  name  of  Jonathan  ;  and 
when  it  was  in  his  power  to  be  governed  solely  by  his 
own  sentiments  of  propriety,  in  his  treatment  of  his 
pretending  son,  he  was  never  known  to  err  on  the  side 
of  magnanimity,  or  courtesy.  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Bull  had 
no  faith  in  his  son  Jonathan  ;  did  not  believe  he  would 
ever  amount  to  anything  ;  was  very  sure  that  he  was  a 
graceless,  unmannerly  scamp  ;  arid  was  far  from  feeling 
disposed  to  recognize  his  rights  in  anything,  further 
than  absolutely  obliged.  After  the  war  was  at  an  end, 
the  states  began  to  extend  their  commerce  abroad,  and 
cover  the  ocean  with  their  sails  and  sailors.  But  Mr. 
Bull  seemed  to  think  the  ocean  his  domain.  Somebody 
—  some  English  poet  —  had  put  it  into  his  head  that 
Britannia  rules  the  waves !  And,  feeling  that  he  was 
master  of  the  ocean,  the  old  gentleman  wras  very  cavalier 
in  his  treatment  upon  the  deep  of  the  crafts  of  other 
powers.  He  had  peculiar  views  as  to  the  laws  of 
nations  ;  and,  instead  of  recognizing  the  codes  as  un- 
folded by  Grotius,  Puffendorf,  Vattel,  and  other  authori- 
ties, he  was  disposed  rather  to  be  governed  by  rules  of 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  53 

his  own  making1.  He  was  quite  unceremonious  in  his 
treatment  of  the  commerce  of  the  whole  world,  and  of 
the  American  commerce  in  particular.  J£_ia._Ma-JKar 
with  France,  he  was  in  want  of  sailors,  or  soldiers,  he 
went  aboard  of  American  merchantmen  for  them.  He 
pretended  lie  was  in  pursuit  of  British  subjects;  but,  as 
by  the  English  laws  no  subject  of  Great  Britain  could 
legally  expatriate  himself,  and  become  a  citizen  of  an- 
other country,  those  who  had  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States  were  impressed,  and  frequently  those 
who  were  American-born.  To  this  the  early  states- 
men of  the  republic  remonstrated ;  and,  although  Bull 
would  occasionally  qualify  his  claim  and  action,  he  ever 
bore  himself  like  one  above  the  reach  of  his  injured 
victim.  As  Washington  before  had  done,  Mr.  Adams 
remonstrated  against  the  impressment  of  American  sea- 
men ;  but,  under  the  administration  of  the  latter,  that 
practice,  with  others  as  unjustifiable  in  regard  to  Ameri- 
can commerce,  was  persisted  in  by  the  assumed  master 
of  the  ocean. 

No  sooner  had  France  become  a  republic  than  England, 
and  the  monarchies  of  Europe,  undertook  to  replace  the 
Bourbons  upon  their  throne.  The  monarchs  of  Europe 
were  well  united  in  the  feeling  that  it  was  far  from  pru- 
dent to  tolerate  a  powerful  republic  in  their  very  midst, 
and  readily  embraced  the  British  policy  of  restoring 
monarchy  to  France,  let  the  cost  be  what  it  might.  But 
the  armies  of  republics,  when  their  liberties  are  attacked, 
are  usually  brave  in  war,  and  fight  with  an  enthusiasm 
and  desperation  not  often  manifested  by  the  soldiers  of 
kings.  The  result  was  that  France  rapidly  broke  up 
the  alliances  against  her,  and  was  almost  everywhere 
on  the  land  victorious,  having,  sometimes,  the  most  of 


54  A    HISTORY    OF 

Europe  bound  to  her  policy.  While  these  things  were 
thus  progressing,  England  nearly  annihilated  the  navies 
of  the  belligerents,  leaving  no  rival  for  the  commerce 
of  the  world  but  the  United  States.  The  manner  in 
which  this  country  profited  by  its  position  is  clear 
proof  of  the  wisdom  of  its  administrative  policy.  The 
stern  and  unyielding  resolution  to  maintain  an  entire 
neutrality  as  to  the  wars  of  all  foreign  or  transatlantic 
powers,  though  at  first  in  opposition  to  large  numbers 
of  very  worthy  citizens  of  the  United  States,  proved  in 
the  event  so  eminently  judicious,  as  a  policy  for  this 
country,  that  it  has  ever  since,  by  all  statesmen,  been 
adhered  to.  Moreover,  Hamilton  was  an  American  Pitt. 
The  ultimate  greatness  of  this  country,  the  extent  of 
its  resources,  the  correct  course  for  it  to  pursue  for  the 
development  of  its  best  interests,  and  its  future  com- 
mercial career,  were  seen  and  understood  by  that  states- 
man better  than  by  most  other  men  of  his  day.  It  was 
fortunate  for  the  country  that  so  penetrating  and  practi- 
cal a  mind  was,  at  that  period,  at  its  command.  The  rapid 
growth  of  commerce  for  a  few  years  attested  this ;  for 
it  was  the  astonishment  of  the  world.  But  the  commer- 
cial policy  of  the  country  will  be  more  particularly 
considered  hereafter. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  55 


CHAPTER   VI: 

JOHN  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  —  ins  PART  IN  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OP 

THE    AMERICAN    CONSTITUTIONS. THE    PROVIDENTIALLY    FORTUNATE 

CONCURRENCE  OP  EVENTS  THAT  FAVORED  THE  FREEDOM  OF  AMERICA, 
AND  THE  GROWTH  OF  HER  FREE  INSTITUTIONS. DEFEAT  OF  THE  FED- 
ERALISTS BY  THE  REPUBLICANS  IN  1800. COMMERCIAL  PROSPERITY 

OF  AMERICA  DURING  THE  ADMINISTRATION    OF    ADAMS. JEFFERSON'S 

POLICY  AS  TO  COMMERCE. 

THE  administration  of  John  Adams,  which  ended  in 
1800,  was  not  essentially  different  from  that  of  Wash- 
ington. At  his  recommendation  the  so-called  alien  and 
sedition  laws  were  passed,  which  were  used  by  his 
enemies  much  to  his  disadvantage.  They  were  meas- 
ures of  too  little  consequence  to  deserve  much  consid- 
eration, as  they  indicate  nothing  in  regard  to  the 
political  principles  of  Mr.  Adams.  The  laws  in  question 
might  have  been  wise,  or  unwise,  without  reasonably 
affecting  his  standing  as  a  statesman  or  patriot.  But 
from  that  day  Mr.  Adams,  and  the  party  supposed  to 
inherit  Federal  principles,  have  had  arrayed  against  them 
all  the  voters  of  the  country  of  foreign  birth.  The 
neutral  policy  inaugurated  by  President  Washington 
was  strictly  pursued  by  his  successor,  whose  overtures 
to  France  for  a  commercial  treaty  were  indignantly 
spurned,  and  his  ministers  ordered  out  of  that  country. 
A  speck  of  war  with  our  revolutionary  ally,  especially  on 
the  ocean,  took  place.  In  one  or  two  naval  encounters 
our  young  republic  showed  a  vigor  not  only  respect- 
6 


56  A    HISTORY    OF 

able,  but  somewhat  significant.  Our  transatlantic 
neighbor  soon  thought  better  of  our  friendship,  received 
our  ambassadors,  and  entered  into  a  treaty  with  us, 
though  based  on  principles  of  neutrality. 

Mr.  Adams,  as  has  before  been  remarked,  was  in 
Europe  at  the  time  the  United  States  Constitution  was 
formed ;  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  frame- 
work of  that  Constitution  might  almost  be  claimed  by 
him  as  of  his  originating.  The  constitutions  of  many 
of  the  states  were  of  an  earlier  origin  than  that  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  in  the  more  essential  principles  the 
latter  is  unquestionably  patterned  on  the  model  of  some 
of  the  former.  On  occasion  of  the  construction  of  the 
state  constitutions,  which  were  called  for  immediately  on 
throwing  off  the  government  of  the  mother  country, 
there  was  considerable  discussion  as  to  the  best  form  for 
such  institutions.  Mr.  Adams  said  and  did  more,  per- 
haps, than  any  other  American  upon  the  subject.  His 
counsels  were  of  great  service  in  Massachusetts,  in  the 
formation  of  her  constitution,  which  was  prepared  in 
1779,  and  was  almost  the  sole  work  of  his  hands  ;  and, 
in  1776,  it  seems  he  was  consulted  by  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  and  New  Jersey,  and  submitted  to  them  brief 
outlines,  which  were  published,  and  served  as  the  basis 
for  all  the  state  constitutions  adopted  prior  to  the 
adoption  of  the  United  States  Constitution.  The  most 
valuable  principles  of  the  English  Constitution  were  in- 
corporated therein.  Monarchy  and  nobility,  and  privi- 
leged classes,  were  not  to  be  known  here,  of  course  ; 
but  the  great  principles  of  liberty  established  by  our 
English  ancestors  were  regarded  as  too  valuable  to  be 
surrendered  at  such  a  crisis.  Our  fathers  were  in  a 
situation  to  prune  away  the  more  objectionable  parts  of 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  57 

the  British  system  ;  but  the  whole  system  itself  it  would 
have  been  madness  to  cast  off'.  But  still,  it  was  con- 
sidered by  French  statesmen  and  republicans  as  strange 
that  the  Americans,  in  declaring  themselves  free  from 
the  mother  country,  should  imitate  her  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  letter  of  M.  Turgot  to  Dr.  Price,  in  m8, 
took  special  exceptions  to  the  wisdom  of  this  step  by 
the  Americans ;  and,  as  it  appears,  there  were  Ameri- 
cans who  entertained  the  same  prejudices  upon  the 
subject.  Those  who  dissented  from  the  views  of  Mr. 
Adams  would  take  the  course  adopted  afterwards  by 
the  French  republic,  — would  have  only  a  house  of 
representatives,  with  no  senate,  or  executive,  other, 
perhaps,  than  that  chosen  by  such  house,  —  and  would 
have  the  judiciary  annually  elected,  either  by  the  house 
or  the  people.  As  we  look  back  to  those  interesting 
times,  and  contemplate  the  condition  of  this  country  at 
the  assumption  of  its  independence  ;  behold  the  entire 
repudiation  of  all  British  authority,  whether  from  with- 
out or  within  —  all  British  officers,  and  all  legal  processes 
authorized  by  British  laws,  spurned  ;  and  see  some  three 
millions  of  intelligent,  industrious,  and  virtuous  freemen 
engaged  in  the  work  of  forming  for  themselves  a  govern- 
ment, we  cannot  help  feeling  the  deep  debt  of  gratitude 
we  owe  to  the  founders  of  our  republic.  We  see  that 
their  wisdom,  statesmanship,  and  patriotism,  encountered 
ignorance,  prejudice,  and  foreign  intrigue ;  and  it  is 
with  mortification  that  we  reflect  that  for  years  we  have 
been  accustomed,  under  the  influence  of  party  bias,  to 
treat  with  neglect,  and  almost  contempt,  the  names  of 
some  of  the  firmest,  wisest,  and  best  patriots,  that  assisted 
in  laying  the  corner-stone  of  our  great  Temple  of  Liberty. 
The  establishment  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 


58  A   HISTORY   OF 

States,  the  adoption  of  our  Constitution,  and  our  sub- 
sequent stability  and  success,  have  all  been  very  much 
due  to  the  singular  interpositions  of  fortune.  The  lover 
of  his  country  sees  the  hand  of  Providence  manifested 
in  all  its  history.  But  the  belief  in  providential  inter- 
position is  apt  to  inspire  conceit,  and  a  sense  of  security 
based  on  the  favor  of  Heaven,  not  compatible  with  the 
best  interests  of  the  country,  and  should  not  be  in- 
dulged in  too  far.  At  the  outset,  France  aided  in 
producing  an  alienation  of  these  colonies  from  Great 
Britain,  and  then  aided  them  in  the  establishment  of 
their  independence.  Bat  when  the  example  of  the  rights 
of  man,  which  France  had  assisted  the  Americans  in 
setting  to  the  world,  was  followed  in  that  country,  all 
the  monarchies  of  Europe  were  alarmed,  and  combined 
their  arms  to  restore  the  Bourbons  to  their  throne  ;  as 
it  seemed  to  be  solemnly  resolved  by  them  all  that  a 
republic  in  the  heart  of  Europe  could  by  no  possibility  be 
tolerated.  Had  the  monarchs  of  Europe  been  immedi- 
ately successful  in  their  attempt  to  crush  out  republican- 
ism in  France,  they  would  have  been  in  a  situation  to 
direct  attention  to  the  institutions  of  the  United  States. 
That  European  despots  have  ever  looked  with  dread 
upon  the  successful  example  of  republicanism  in  America, 
is  but  too  well  known  ;  and  that  those  rulers  have  ever 
desired,  arid  still  do  desire,  the  subversion  and  over- 
throw of  our  present  system,  no  one  can  doubt ;  but 
fortune  has  been  the  favorer  of  the  United  States  to  an 
extent  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  will 
be  recollected  that  the  birth  of  the  constitutional  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  and  the  breaking  out  of  the 
French  Revolution,  were  simultaneous  events ;  they 
both  occurred  in  1789.  The  occupation  of  Europe  from 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  59 

that  date  until  the  fall  of  Bonaparte,  in  1815,  is  well 
known.  To  protract  the  controversy  which  engaged  the 
European  crowned  heads,  the  American  is  disposed  to 
think  that  Providence  raised  up  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  as, 
under  the  shelter  of  those  European  contests,  America 
grew  up  to  a  stature  and  strength  that  rendered  her  safe 
from  at  least  the  arms  of  foreign  powers.  Europe  ob- 
tained a  general  peace  in  1815  ;  but  the  long,  bloody, 
and  devastating  wars,  which  had  led  to  that  peace,  left 
the  European  governments  in  no  situation  to  undertake 
a  crusade  against  a  republic  some  three  or  four  thousand 
miles  away.  Furthermore,  the  commerce  of  Europe, 
saving  what  was  in  the  hands  of  England,  had  been 
mostly  annihilated,  and  England  herself  was  so  over- 
whelmingly burdened  with  debt,  incurred  in  her  long 
struggle  with  Napoleon,  and  her  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests  so  prostrated  by  loss  of  American 
trade,  that  she  was  quite  ready  and  willing  to  adjust 
her  differences  with  the  United  States,  and  that  on  no 
unfavorable  terms  for  this  country. 

At  the  outset  of  our  Union  the  wars  of  combined 
Europe  against  France  produced  much  excitement  in 
this  country  ;  but  the  firm  position  of  neutrality  taken 
by  the  Federal  party,  and  maintained  in  spite  of  pop- 
ular clamor,  was  the  dictate  of  the  soundest  wisdom, 
and,  beyohd  all  controversy,  proved  the  salvation  of 
the  United  Staies.  The  Federalists  and  Republicans, 
under  the  administration  of  the  first  presidents,  were 
divided  more  upon  questions  of  the  foreign  policy  of 
this  country  than  upon  domestic  questions.  Many  of 
those  measures  adopted  by  the  Federalists  while  in 
power,  were  continued  by  the  Republicans  after  their 
ascendency,  showing  that  the  latter  were  not  entirely 
6* 


60  A   HISTORY    OF 

blinded,  by  passion  arid  prejudice,  to  whatever,  in  the 
policy  of  the  former,  experience  had  demonstrated  to 
be  wise  and  useful.  And,  since  those  days,  the  two 
great  parties  existing  in  the  country  have  constantly 
had  an  influence  upon  each  other,  which  time  has  always 
been  certain  to  demonstrate.  That  this  is  so  is  the 
most  encouraging  feature  of  modern  politics.  It  en- 
courages an  individual  to  persevere  in  his  adhesion  to 
the  minority.  There  is  no  patriotism  in  the  politician 
who  seeks  rather  the  ascendency  of  his  party  than  the 
promulgation  and  establishment  of  correct  political 
principles  ;  and  he  who  sides  with  a  minority,  if  that 
minority  is  intelligent,  virtuous,  and  conservative,  ren- 
ders far  greater  service  to  his  country  than  the  more 
popular  politician  who,  by  the  arts  of  the  demagogue, 
obtains  political  power. 

The  Federalists  were,  in  1800,  defeated  by  the  Repub- 
licans ;  and  in  March,  1801,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  father 
of  American  Democracy,  was  inaugurated  President  of 
the  United  States.  But,  in  looking  back  upon  the 
administration  of  the  Federal  party,  although  disposed 
to  hail  the  ascendency  of  the  Democracy  as  of  essential 
importance  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  we  are  obliged  to 
confess  that  those  Federalists  were  really  the  fathers 
of  our  institutions,  and  that  to  them  we  are  indebted 
for  the  establishment  of  that  policy  which  has  saved 
our  country  from  the  toils  of  foreign  powers,  and  ren- 
dered it  prosperous  beyond  precedent  in  the  history  of 
nations.  The  commercial  policy  of  the  Federal  admin- 
istration was,  notwithstanding  their  hostility  thereto  up 
to  a  late  date,  finally  adopted  by  the  Democracy.  The 
Democracy  at  last  embraced  that  policy  as  the  result 
of  the  teachings  of  experience  ;  but  the  Federalists 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  61 

inaugurated  it  as  the  suggestions  of  far-seeing  wisdom. 
This  was  no  particular  disparagement  to  the  leading 
Democratic  politicians.  Neither  Grenville  nor  Lord 
North  could,  with  Pitt,  foresee  the  advancing  commer- 
cial greatness  of  England ;  nor  was  it  strange  that 
Jefferson  failed  to  anticipate,  with  Hamilton  and 
Adams,  the  splendid  commercial  career  of  this  country. 
In  fact,  no  one,  at  the  outset  of  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment, was  prepared  for  the  extraordinary  prosperity 
which  so  soon  ensued,  because  no  statesman  could  have 
anticipated  it,  without  foreseeing  the  protracted  Euro- 
pean wars  to  which  it  was  in  a  great  measure  attrib- 
utable. The  Federal  administration  departed  with  the 
eighteenth  century,  —  a  century  which  had  witnessed 
great  changes  among  the  nations  of  the  west.  At  the 
commencement  of  that  century  England  had  but  faintly 
begun  to  unfold  her  energies,  arid  had  given  but  few 
of  the  signs  of  greatness  to  which  she  was  destined. 
It  was  more  than  fifty  years — that  is,  near  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  —  before  Europe  began  to  look 
with  wonder  upon  the  growing  importance  of  their 
British  neighbor,  and  tremble  with  apprehensions  of 
her  extensive  colonies  and  fast  increasing  commerce. 
At  the  commencement  of  that  century  her  whole  ex- 
ports did  not  annually  exceed  the  value  of  twenty 
millions  of  dollars,  —  scarcely  exceeding  the  amount 
annually  sent  to  the  American  colonies  alone  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  American  Revolution.  During  the 
revolutionary  period,  commerce  with  the  rebellious  col- 
onies was,  of  course,  suspended  ;  but,  after  the  treaty 
of  peace,  trade  began  to  revive,  and  its  extension,  by 
both  the  mother  country  and  the  states,  was  unexampled 
in  the  history  of  the  western  powers.  The  commerce 


62  A  HISTORY   OF 

of  almost  the  whole  world  was  thrown  into  the  hands 
of  England  and  the  United  States,  and  the  exports  of 
the  latter  reached,  during  the  administration  of  the  last 
of  the  Federalists  (Adams),  the  amount  of  about  ninety 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum.  That  this  commerce  was 
the  result  of  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  affairs  of 
Europe,  and  not  the  healthy  development  of  the  natural 
course  of  events,  and  was,  in  the  nature  of  things,  to  be 
temporary,  should  not  be  overlooked,  although  this  was 
not  considered  by  many  Americans,  when,  after  a  short 
period  of  enjoyment  of  that  trade,  this  country  was 
compelled  to  relinquish  it  entirely,  for  a  season,  to  vin- 
dicate its  rights  upon  the  ocean.  After  the  general 
peace  of  1815,  it  was  many  years  before  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  became  as  extended  as  it  had  been 
prior  to  the  system  of  non-intercourse  forced  upon  this 
country  by  the  aggressions  of  England,  under  the 
administration  of  Jefferson.  But  that  peculiar  period 
of  commercial  prosperity  was  a  golden  era  for  New 
England.  As  the  leading  Federal  politicians  were  New 
England  men,  it  was  natural  that  that  party  should  be 
devoted  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the  country. 
Canals,  and  railroads,  and  western  emigration,  had  not 
at  that  time  rendered  New  York  city  the  great  empo- 
rium of  the  United  States  that  a  later  period  has  found 
her.  England  looked  with  no  complacency  upon  the 
ubiquity  of  American  commerce,  and  her  aggressions 
upon  it  never  ceased,  from  the  peace  of  1783  until  the 
peace  of  1815.  It  was  charged  by  the  Kepublicans  upon 
the  Federalists  that,  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  those  rich 
commercial  harvests,  they  were  too  much  disposed  to 
submit  to  British  outrages,  and  pocket  their  affronts. 
The  suspected  partiality  of  the  Federalists  for  England 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  63 

seriously  affected  the  minds  of  the  masses  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  and  contributed  more  than  perhaps  anything 
else  to  throw  them  out  of  power.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  a 
statesman  of  another  stamp.  It  was  not  his  opinion 
that  the  highest  interests  of  this  country  were  to  consist 
in  commerce;  and,  perhaps,  he  did  not  accord  to* the 
commercial  policy  of  the  country  sufficient  importance. 
But,  if  the  Republicans  accused  the  Federalists  of  inclin- 
ing to  the  interests  of  England,  the  Federalists,  on  the 
other  hand,  appeared  perfectly  sure  that  the  Republi- 
cans were  for  espousing  the  cause  of  France.  Both 
parties  were,  undoubtedly,  too  jealous  of  each  other  ; 
and,  although  the  true  interests  of  the  country  were  at 
the  hearts  of  both,  they  carried  their  jealousies  too  far. 
Still,  although  profoundly  impressed  with  the  value 
and  worth  of  those  noble  old  Federalists,  the  candid 
American  of  the  present  day  will,  on  the  whole,  say 
that,  all  things  considered,  the  ascendency  of  the  Repub- 
licans was,  in  the  end,  of  essential  importance  to  the 
country. 


64  A   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTEK    VII. 

JEFFERSON'S   ADMINISTRATION  AND  CONSERVATISM. — REFLECTIONS  ON 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  INSTRUCTION. FOREIGN  INTRIGUES  IN  REGARD  TO 

AMERICA. EUROPEAN  NATIONS  DESIRED  HER  INDEPENDENCE  OUT  OF 

FEAR  FOR  THE  INCREASING  POWER  OF  ENGLAND,  AND  WERE  OPPOSED 
TO  THE  PERMANENCE  OF  REPUBLICAN  INSTITUTIONS  HERE  OUT  OF  FEAR 

OF  THE  EXAMPLE.  REASONS  WHY  AMERICA  HAS  BEEN  EXEMPT  FROM 

EUROPEAN  INTERFERENCE. THAT  THE  PERMANENCY  OF  REPUBLICAN- 
ISM HERE  MUST  EVENTUALLY  SUBVERT  MONARCHY  IN  EUROPE  FELT  TO 

BE  CERTAIN. REPUBLICANISM  IN  AMERICA  ONLY  TO  BE  PRESERVED 

BY  UNION. FOREIGNERS  WILL  SOONER  SEE  US  BROKEN  IN  PIECES  BY 

LEAVING  US  ALONE,  THAN  ATTEMPTING  OUR  DESTRUCTION  BY  FORCE. 

THE  success  of  the  Republicans  in  the  election  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  a  triumph  over  no  mean  and  in- 
significant party,  or  one  that  would  be  likely  to  submit 
tamely  to  defeat,  and  ground  arms  after  the  first  re- 
pulse. Parties  in  those  days  were  not  without  their 
ultra  elements.  There  was  Jacobinism  in  the  Republican 
ranks  prior  to  Jefferson's  election,  and  in  the  Federal 
party  afterwards.  Those  Federalists  who  had  with  tri- 
umphant joy  seen  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
were  scarcely  consolable  after  the  defeat  of  their  favor- 
ite party.  The  Federalists  numbered  in  their  ranks 
many  of  the  wealthy  of  the  land,  and  embraced  many 
men  of  talent  and  popular  note.  A  large  share  of  the 
presses  of  the  country,  with  a  great  majority  of  the 
pulpits,  were  in  the  Federal  influence ;  and  as  the  tri- 
umph of  Federalism  was  considered  absolutely  indis- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  65 

pensable  for  the  safety  of  the  government,  of  course 
the  most  extraordinary  zeal  was  infused  into  the  poli- 
tics of  those  days.  Much  occurred  at  the  outset  of  this 
government,  which  was  thought  calculated  to  defeat 
the  hopes  of  the  patriot  as  to  its  durability.  Unfortu- 
nately, certain  portions  of  New  England,  in  the  overthrow 
of  Federalism,  conceived  that  they  had  been  wronged, 
and  that  the  triumphant  party  was  one  necessarily 
arrayed  against  their  rights  and  interests.  The  defeat 
of  the  Federal  party,  in  1800,  wrought  a  change  upon  its 
temper,  tactics,  and  policy.  All  the  Federalists  that, 
under  Washington  and  Adams,  belonged  to  that  party, 
did  not  continue  to  adhere  to  its  ranks  in  subsequent 
days.  The  times  were  soon  changed,  and  men  were 
changed  with  them.  Among  the  Federalists,  as  well  as 
among  the  Republicans,  there  were  conservatives  arid 
ultraists.  It  appeared  that  the  Federalists  out  of 
power  did  not  talk  as  they  had  acted  in  power ;  and 
many  conservative  Federalists  were  but  too  elated  to 
discover  that  the  Republicans  in  power  did  not  act  as 
they  had  talked  while  out.  It  is  natural  enough,  per- 
haps, that  ambitious  politicians  should,  in  order  to  be 
elevated  to  office,  sometimes  in  defiance  of  their  better 
judgment,  pander  to  the  ignorance  and  prejudices  of 
the  people,  and  appear  to  encourage  views  and 
measures  that  they  would  be  sorry  to  uphold  when 
in  power.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  fanatical  leaders 
of  a  fanatical  party  to  practise  and  preach  the  same 
political  doctrines,  because  their  madness  is  not 
assumed,  and  has  no  method  in  it.  Occasionally  a  pol- 
itician will  be  of  so  exalted  a  character  as  to  scorn  to 
be  seen  appealing  to  the  prejudices  of  the  masses ;  but 
such  have  always  been  scarce,  and  daily  grow  more  so. 


66  A   HISTORY  OF 

During1  the  revolutionary  period  men  were  selected  for 
office  less  on  account  of  any  peculiar  views  as  to  polit- 
ical measures,  than  for  their  known  ability  and  integ- 
rity. Kepresentatives  were  allowed  to  take  their  places 
in  the  Congress,  and  act  their  impartial  judgment  after 
mutual  discussions  with  their  associates,  and  were  not 
bound  at  all  events  to  bow  in  obedience  to  the  local 
prejudices  of  their  constituents.  This  high  character 
of  revolutionary  politics  soon  disappeared  among  the 
most  of  our  legislators  ;  and  of  late  years,  instead  of 
the  ablest  men,  —  those  most  noted  for  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue, —  men  of  an  inferior  grade,  both  as  to  talents  and 
morals,  have  too  often  been  selected  by  the  people  as 
their  representatives.  These  the  people  know  they  can 
trust.  They  acknowledge  that  others  are  of  superior 
ability,  wisdom  and  experience,  and  of  well-estab- 
lished moral  character ;  but  such  have  not  manifested 
sufficient  zeal  in  the  popular  cause —  are  not  regarded 
as  entirely  reliable  on  questions  exceedingly  dear  to  the 
masses.  The  self-esteem  of  the  simplest  clown  will  not 
permit  him  to  entertain  for  a  moment  the  suspicion  that 
he  has  been  duped ;  and  the  thought  that  he  is 
deceived  by  an  artful  and  wordy  leader  can  never  enter 
his  head.  The  true  worshipper  of  Joseph  Smith  can 
never  look  upon  that  impostor  as  an  outsider  views 
him.  The  impositions  of  Mahomet  are  none  the  less 
certain  because  no  worshipper  of  him  can  possibly 
work  himself  into  the  belief  that  his  prophet  was  not 
what  he  professed  to  be.  Political  partisanship  inspires 
much  of  this  insane  man-worship,  and  people  are  exceed- 
ingly apt,  especially  whe'n  religious  views  enter  at  all 
into  political  questions,  to  adhere  to  their  champions 
less  on  account  of  their  real  virtues  and  merits,  than  on 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  G7 

account  of  the  same  feeling  or  principle  of  human 
nature  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  every  species  of  idol- 
atry. As  long  as  ignorance  remains  in  the  world 
deceit  may  continue  to  be  practised,  and  the  extent  and 
success  of  that  practice  will  be  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  of  the  ignorance.  Universal  and  infallible  wis- 
dom can  never  prevail.  However  mortifying  the  re- 
flection, it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  no  section,  no 
congressional  district  in  the  United  States,  contains 
a  population  divinely  perfect,  or  a  people  not  liable  to 
error,  and  whose  minds  are  wholly  unobscured  by  igno- 
rance. From  the  best  district  no  honorable  man  would 
wish  to  accept  the  station  of  representative,  and  con- 
sent to  act  in  no  respect  saving  in  accordance  with  the 
views  of  his  people.  By  thus  doing  he  would  acknowl- 
edge himself  the  slave  of  the  ignorance  and  prejudices 
of  his  constituents.  The  true  theory  of  republican 
government  should  leave  the  representative  entirely 
free  to  act,  after  thorough  discussion  and  mature 
deliberation,  as  his  best  judgment  shall  dictate;  for 
what  is  the  use  of  congressional  discussions,  if  each 
representative  is  to  receive  imperative  instructions  at 
home  ?  On  account  of  this  practice  of  requiring  obe- 
dience in  representatives  to  local  prejudices,  the  men  of 
the  land  most  worthy  of  office  are  excluded  therefrom. 
No  person  truly  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  national  leg- 
islature would  ever  so  degrade  and  stultify  himself  as 
to  accept  it,  subject  to  such  slavish  conditions.  But 
there  are  enough  ever  willing  to  flatter  the  multitude, 
arid  inspire  the  masses  with  a  desire  to  have  their  wills 
carried  out ;  and  when  this  desire  has  been  aroused  into 
a  strong  passion,  none  but  the  surest  instruments  for  the 
work  will  be  trusted.  If  people  were  not  infatuated, — 
7 


68  A  HISTOEY   OF 

were  not  blinded  as  by  a  species  of  madness,  —  they 
would,  on  a  moment's  reflection,  see  the  folly  and  danger 
of  such  a  system  of  political  action,  and  at  once  return 
to  the  practice  of  the  purer  days  of  the  republic, 
when  men  of  known  virtue  and  talents  were,  un- 
shackled, selected  for  office.  The  Union  was  formed 
by  votes,  and  by  votes  it  will  be  destroyed,  if  ever 
destroyed  at  all.  Without  the  purer  species  of  repre- 
sentation alluded  to,  it  would  not  have  been  formed  ; 
and  how  long  it  may  be  preserved  under  the  system 
based  on  local  prejudices  and  sectional  animosities, 
must  depend  much  upon  circumstances. 

America  has  been  as  favorable  a  theatre  for  the  ex- 
periment of  a  republican  government  as  could  be 
wished.  Providence  in  every  particular  has  seemed 
to  favor  this  republican  enterprise.  If  the  experiment 
shall  prove  a  failure,  it  will  be  on  account  of  the  fault 
of  the  American  people  alone,  as  the  great  Ruler  of 
human  events  appears  to  have  so  adjusted  the  affairs 
of  the  external  world  as  to  leave  this  country,  from 
the  dawn  of  its  independence,  entirely  free  to  pursue 
its  own  course  unmolested.  Monarchy  throughout  the 
world  has  dreaded  our  experiment,  but  has  been  unable 
to  avoid  it.  The  independence  of  the  colonies,  at  the 
time  of  their  rebellion,  was  thought  to  be  of  vital  im- 
portance, and  a  highly  desirable  object  to  the  crowns 
of  Europe,  as  it  woul.d  be  the  destruction  of  one  of  the 
wings  of  English  commerce  ;  but  no  crown  of  Europe 
desired  the  new-born  states  to  become  a  republic.  But 
what,  under  the  circumstances,  could  be  done  ?  The 
attempt  of  France  to  follow  our  example  they  did 
resist ;  but  before  that  labor  was  entirely  off  their 
hands,  America  had  become  a  great  and  powerful 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  69 

nation,  and  had  shown  herself  the  second  naval  power 
on  earth.  It  is  true  some  few  faint  efforts  were  made 
to  shape  the  character  of  the  institutions  of  the  United 
States.  At  the  establishment  of  independence,  Euro- 
pean intrigue  was  for  a  while  visible.  Some  of  the 
leading  Americans  were  induced  to  think  a  monarchical 
government  for  this  country  was  necessary  ;  and  by 
such,  and  by  some  of  the  foreign  commanders  sent 
over  by  France  to  aid  in  the  struggle,  Washington  was 
invited  to  establish  a  monarchy,  and  assume  a  crown. 
But  the  effort  scarcely  produced  a  momentary  ripple  on 
the  current  of  events  in  this  country.  Afterwards, 
during  the  commercial  difficulties  between  the  United 
States  and  England,  the  latter  made  a  direct  effort  to 
bring  about  a  disunion  of  the  states,  and  it  is  well 
known  that  England,  as  well  as  the  monarchies  gen- 
erally throughout  Europe,  desires  the  failure  of  the  re- 
publican form  of  government  in  America.  But  Eng- 
land and  European  monarchs  have  not  been  able  to  look 
two  ways  at  once.  The  East  has  commanded  their 
most  anxious  attention.  If  the  eyes  of  England  and 
Western  Europe  have  been  turned  to  the  West,  it  was 
necessarily  only  for  a  momentary  glance,  as  the  East 
has  ever  been  the  object  of  their  utmost  solicitude  and 
concern.  That  great  Asiatico-European  power,  Russia, 
has,  from  the  first  dawning  of  civilization  in  America, 
stood  behind  Europe  like  a  huge  giant,  ready,  at  so 
favorable  a  moment  as  an  embroilment  of  the  latter 
with  this  country  would  afford,  to  extend  her  empire 
to  the  Mediterranean.  Russia,  the  most  despotic  power 
in  the  world,  has  ever  seen  the  growth  of  the  Ameri- 
can government  with  unfeigned  pleasure,  republican 
though  it  be.  In  America  the  Czar  has  constantly  seen 


70  A   HISTORY   OF 

a  balance  to  European  power,  and  looks  to  a  war  be- 
tween her  and  the  powers  of  Western  Europe  for  an 
opportunity  to  consummate  the  manifest  destiny  of 
Russia.  Consequently,  Russia  has  not  been  a  swift 
party  to  the  many-headed  European  treaties,  quin- 
tuple or  otherwise  called,  created  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  out  European  policy  in  regard  to  America. 
It  has  been  a  darling  endeavor  of  the  statesmen  of 
England  and  Europe,  for  some  years  past,  to  bring  Rus- 
sia into  a  general  alliance  for  the  promotion  of  certain 
European  views  ;  but  her  policy  has  never  been  consid- 
ered as  entirely  identical  with  that  of  royalty  in  the 
West.  She  is  so  situated  as  to  render  the  example  of 
American  freedom  of  but  little  concern  to  her,  as  slight 
must  be  the  impression  it  can  ever  make  upon  her  Scla- 
vonic and  other  barbaric  hordes.  The  Russian  empe- 
rors have  for  a  long  time  looked  down  upon  the  key  of 
the  world,  —  the  city  of  Constantino,  —  the  present 
possession  of  the  declining  Turkish  power,  —  as  a 
prize  marked  by  destiny  for  their  acquisition. 

The  late  Czar  Nicholas,  after  well  weighing  the 
powers  of  Western  Europe,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
he  could  realize  the  traditional  destiny  of  Russia  — 
could,  despite  all  the  combinations  possible  to  be  brought 
against  him,  take  a  step  which  must  almost  immediately 
change  materially  the  affairs  of  the  world ;  but  the 
attempt  only  demonstrated  the  settled  policy  of  the 
Western  powers  as  to  Eastern  politics.  The  Crimean 
war  was  expensive  and  bloody,  and  was  curiously  ter- 
minated by  the  peace  of  Paris.  The  young  Emperor 
Alexander,  on  the  death  of  his  father  Nicholas  in  the 
midst  of  the  war,  undoubtedly  found  the  undertaking 
of  that  father  too  gigantic  for  his  abilities  and  resources, 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  71 

0 

and  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  superior  powers 
arrayed  against  him.  But  has  he  relinquished  the  long- 
cherished  ambition  of  Russia  ?  The  discussions  of  the 
treaty  of  Paris  were  secret,  and  its  theory  or  philoso- 
phy can  only  be  inferred.  It  was  discussed  after 
Austria,  in  the  affair  of  Kosta,  had  been  affronted  by 
the  United  States,  and  an  embroilment  of  the  latter 
with  England  was  pointing  to  war,  on  account  of  the 
enlistment  controversy.  All  we  know  is  that  a  peace 
with  Russia  was  concluded  on  most  favorable  terms  ; 
England  and  France  paying  their  own  expenses  incurred 
in  resisting  the  aggressions  of  the  former ;  and,  ap- 
parently as  a  consideration  therefor,  that  power  be- 
came a  party  to  a  general  European  alliance.  Without 
the  cordial  union  of  Russia  with  Europe,  America  has 
nothing  to  apprehend  from  European  interference  ;  with 
it,  she  has  nothing  to  fear  so  long  as  united.  All  the 
world  combined  could  not  overthrow  republicanism  in 
the  United  States,  should  perfect  union  exist.  There- 
fore, it  would  be  well  for  Americans  not  to  neglect  their 
situation.  Europe  and  America  confront  each  other,  a 
broad  battle-field  being  spread  out  between  them.  The 
governments  as  now  prevailing  in  them  cannot  endure. 
The  continuance  of  republican  institutions  in  America 
must  prove  the  subversion  of  monarchy  in  Europe. 
This  result  is  as  certain  as  time  is  to  endure,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  that  Russia  has  at  last  been  made  to 
perceive  it  as  a  truth  of  importance  even  to  her.  Russia, 
though  heretofore  a  friend  to  far-off  republican  America, 
could  not  endure  republicanism  so  near  as  Hungary, 
and,  by  quenching  the  Hungarian  republic,  united  with 
herself,  in  close  bonds,  that  firm  and  unalterable  friend 
of  hers,  the  house  of  Austria ;  and  Austria,  especially 
7* 


72  A    HISTORY   OF 

after  the  Kosta  and  Hulsemann  affairs,  would'be  a  warm 
advocate  for  a  closer  union  of  all  monarchies  for  defence 
against  the  spread  of  republicanism.  In  fact,  young  as 
America  was,  when  Hungary  was  crushed  by  the  com- 
bined arms  of  two  powerful  despots,  she  was  not 
easily  restrained  from  reaching  forth  a  delivering  hand. 
Had  our  country  been  a  half  or  a  whole  century  older, 
with  a  population  of  one  or  two  hundred  millions  of 
freemen,  and  with  a  navy  in  keeping  with  our  popula- 
tion and  resources,  we  could,  without  trouble,  have  seen 
fair  play  in  Hungary's  struggle  with  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg.  The  day  is  at  hand  when  the  nations  of  the 
world  will  be  obliged  to  bow  in  submission  to  the  will 
of  America,  and  free  institutions  will  flourish  through 
the  encouragement  of  the  great  American  republic.  It 
will  be  so,  or,  through  the  agency  of  disunion  and 
civil  war,  the  arms  of  European  monarchs  shall  crush 
out  republicanism  in  this  country,  and  despotism  be 
again  made  universal. 

But  this  digression  proceeds  from  the  current  of 
thought  suggested  by  the  statement  that  the  con- 
tinuance of  free  institutions  is  dependent  on  the  people 
of  this  country  themselves,  and  that  from  the  earliest 
period  of  our  history,  external  and  internal  circum- 
stances have,  under  Providence,  been  exceedingly  favor- 
able for  their  development. 

The  consolidation  of  our  Union  was  a  difficult  work. 
It  is  not  yet  complete.  Its  success  is  differently  regarded 
by  different  persons.  Its  utility  and  beneficence,  when 
looked  down  upon  from  some  higher  sphere,  must  be  daz- 
zlingly  conspicuous  ;  the  American  Union  must  by  all 
impartial  and  benevolent  minds  be  pronounced  the 
greatest  achievement,  in  the  cause  of  humanity  and 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  73 

human  progress,  that  has  ever  been  accomplished  by 
mortal  hands.  It  is  the  day-star  of  Freedom  through- 
out the  earth,  and  the  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all 
nations.  It  is  daily,  throughout  the  world,  the  first  and 
last  thought  of  by  down-trodden  men  ;  and  by  night, 
in  their  dreams,  the  magnificent  temple  of  American 
Freedom  breaks  upon  their  eyes  as  a  vision  of  Paradise. 
But  still  the  Union  may  have  its  faults.  It  may  work 
unequally  in  some  instances.  The  government  of  the 
Union  may  not  be  what  the  most  refined  theoretical 
moralist  would  prefer,  and  the  legislation  under  it 
may  occasionally  seem  unjust  and  oppressive  to  por- 
tions of  the  people ;  but  how  little  should  such  con- 
siderations weigh  in  the  mind  of  the  patriot  when  the 
yalue  of  the  Union  itself  is  considered  1 


74  A    HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

FEDERAL   PRINCIPLES    OF    NEUTRALITY    CONTINUED  BY  JEFFERSON.  HE 

WAS     CHARGED    WITH    PARTIALITY    FOR    FRANCE. PARTY    SPIRIT  OF 

THOSE  DAYS. THE  PURCHASE  OF  LOUISIANA. RESISTANCE  OF  BRITISH 

AGGRESSIONS. VIOLENT  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  ADMINISTRATION  IN  NEW 

ENGLAND. HOSTILITY  OF  THE    NORTH  TO  THE  SOUTH  MANIFESTED. — 

ANTI-SLAVERY     FEELING     IN     NEW    ENGLAND    IN    1796. VINDICTIVE 

SPIRIT  OF  NORTHERN  PHILANTHROPISTS  AT  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  FORM 
ATION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT. WHAT   THE   SOUTH,    UNDER    THE   CIR- 
CUMSTANCES, OUGHT  TO  BE  TOLERATED  IN  ATTEMPTING. COMPROMISES 

IN  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  REGARD  TO  SLAVERY. ANTI-SLAVERY  IN  NEW 

ENGLAND  BORROWED  FROM  THE  DESIGNING  ENEMIES  OF  OUR  COUNTRY  IN 

OLD  ENGLAND. ENGLAND,  ON  FAILING  TO  ENSLAVE  OUR  FOREFATHERS, 

AT  ONCE  COMMENCED  TEACH  ING  THEM  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  NEGRO  FREE- 
DOM AND  EQUALITY. —  HER  OBJECT  IN  THIS. EFFECT  OF  HER  WRITERS 

ON  AMERICANS. ABOLITION  OF  THE  SLAVE-TRADE,  IT   WAS  THOUGHT, 

WOULD  PUT  AN  END  TO  SLAVERY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND  RENDER 
THE  CULTIVATION  OF  COTTON  IN  THE  EAST  INDIES  PROFITABLE,  ETC. 

JEFFERSON,  as  is  well  known,  was  not  elected  to  the 
presidency  the  first  time  by  the  people.  He  and  Aaron 
Burr  having  had  an  equal  number  of  votes,  the  election 
was  carried  into  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
selection  was  limited  to  Jeiferson  and  Burr,  though, 
of  course,  both  Republicans.  The  Federalists,  for  reasons 
better  attributed  to  party  spirit  than  anything  else, 
sustained  Burr ;  and,  as  there  were  other  candidates, 
many  ballotings  were  required  before  an  election  took 
place.  We  are  told  that  the  excitement  was  great,  as 
party  spirit  ran  high.  The  course  taken  by  Burr,  in 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  75 

permitting1  himself  to  be  used  by  the  Federalists  in  op- 
position to  Mr.  Jefferson,  rendered  him  unpopular  with 
the  Eepublicaris,  and  from  that  time,  although  he  had 
before  been  a  distinguished  patriot,  holding  responsible 
commands  in  the  revolutionary  army,  arising  to  the 
vice-presidency,  with  fair  prospects  of  ultimately  reach- 
ing the  presidency,  he  took  a  downward  career,  and 
finally  became  an  object  of  general  reproach,  if  not  of 
infamy.  His  duel  with  Hamilton,  his  fillibuster  enter- 
prise against  Mexico,  and  his  libertinism,  are  so  insepar- 
ably connected  with  his  memory,  that  his  name  scarcely 
ever  recalls  pleasant  associations. 

Of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  it  is  not  important 
here  to  speak  further  than  necessary  to  show  the  prin- 
cipal distinctive  political  issues  that  from  time  to  time 
existed  between  the  Republican  and  Federal  parties. 
The  repeal  by  his  administration  of  Mr.  Adams'  judi- 
ciary law,  and  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  so  called, 
needs  no  comment,  as  those  laws  were  never  magnified 
into  the  dignity  of  measures.  Their  agitation  ceased  with 
his  first  election.  The  purchase  of  Louisiana  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  although  it  caused  much  noise  at  the  time, 
may  be  placed  in  the  same  category.  It  is  true  he 
was  much  censured  for  the  act,  as  one  in  defiance  of 
constitutional  authority  ;  but,  right  or  wrong,  the  thing 
was  irremediable.  The  greatest  cause  of  objection  to 
Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  part  of  the  Federalists,  was  his 
alleged  indifference  or  hostility  to  commercial  interests, 
and  his  general  views  in  regard  to  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  country.  It  was  insisted  that  he  was  a  favorer 
of  the  French  Revolution,  and  an  enemy  of  England. 
Probably  the  true  admirer  of  Mr.  Jefferson  at  this 
day  would  claim  in  his  behalf  some  degree  of  truth 


76  A   HISTORY   OF 

in  both  of  those  positions ;  but  as  to  whether  his 
feelings  in  favor  of  France  and  against  England  were 
carried  to  a  censurable  point  while  president,  remains 
a  question  for  the  decision  of  the  candid  historian. 
It  would  be  hard  to  establish  this  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  a  Jefiersonian  Democrat  at  the  present  day. 
When  we  look  back  upon  his  administration,  we 
cannot,  so  far  as  the  foreign  policy  of  the  nation  was 
concerned,  help  observing  in  it  with  pleasure  much  of 
the  conservatism  exhibited  in  the  preceding  administra- 
tions of  Washington  and  Adams,  as  if  inspired  by  their 
illustrious  examples.  But  Mr.  Jefferson  had  obstacles 
to  encounter  not  experienced  by  his  predecessors,  and 
met  them  in  such  a  manner  as  appeared  to  him  the  most 
advisable.  His  resistance  of  British  aggressions,  as  well 
as  that  continued  by  Mr.  Madison,  produced  an  aston- 
ishing degree  of  opposition  and  excitement  in  portions 
of  the  country,  and  came  near,  as  thought  by  some, 
producing  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union.  The  seat  of 
this  excitement  and  opposition  was  New  England. 
Massachusetts,  that  has  been  more  benefited  by  the 
Union  than  any  of  the  states,  accepted  it  with  reluct- 
ance. The  United  States  Constitution,  when  submitted 
to  her  convention  of  delegates,  was  only  adopted 
through  the  strenuous  exertions  of  her  popular  gov- 
ernor, Hancock,  and  that  by  a  very  slight  majority. 
The  exact  feelings  of  all  the  New  England  people  in 
regard  to  forming  the  Union  it  would  be  vain  to  en- 
deavor to  portray  ;  but  it  is  very  certain  that  when  the 
system,  as  adopted,  was  proposed,  many  bugbears  arose 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  to  incline  them  to  recoil 
from  it.  The  leading  men  of  those  days  saw  clearer 
into  the  measure  than  the  masses  did,  arid,  as  the  most 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  77 

eminent  men  in  the  country  then  had  great  weight  with 
the  people,  their  influence  secured  its  adoption.  But  it 
was  not  natural  that  the  Puritans  of  New  England 
should  find  their  hearts  cleaving  with  very  great  fond- 
ness to  their  ancient  persecutors,  their  Church  of  Eng- 
land neighbors  in  the  South.  And,  more  than  this, 
the  manners,  habits  and  customs,  of  the  South  were  not 
in  accordance  with  New  England  sentiments.  The 
South,  too,  abounded  in  slavery.  The  opposition  to  the 
South  on  account  of  her  slavery  institutions  sprung  up 
astonishingly  quick,  considering  the  North  had  but 
so  recently  themselves  reformed  in  that  matter.  But 
so  we  believe  it  ever  is  ;  towards  those  who  practise 
vice  the  reformed  are  always  less  tolerant  than  those 
who  were  never  tainted  with  it.  An  inveteracy  towards 
the  South,  as  such,  soon  manifested  itself  in  noble  New 
England,  and  views  and  feelings  were  exhibited  far  from 
Creditable  to  this,  in  many  respects,  most  interesting 
portion  of  the  earth.  As  subsequent  events  fortunately 
proved,  the. illiberal  feelings  alluded  to  were  at  the  time 
limited  to  but  a  small  portion  of  the  New  England 
people ;  but  it  was  a  portion  that  has  since  made  itself 
felt,  and  during  the  last  sixty  years  has  promulgated 
them  but  too  successfully,  especially  in  the  North. 
That  portion  was  the  most  bitter  faction  that  assailed 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson ;  and,  *.s  a  specimen 
of  their  spirit,  take  the  following  from  a  leading  New 
England  journal  which  was  published  before  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's election  to  the  presidency  :  "  Negroes  are,  in 
all  respects,  except  in  regard  to  life  and  death,  the  cattle 
of  the  citizens  of  the  Southern  States.  If  they  were 
good  for  food,  the  probability  is,  that  even  the  power  of 
destroying  their  lives  would  be  enjoyed  by  their  owners, 


78  A   HISTORY    OF 

as  fully  as  it  is  over  the  lives  of  their  cattle.  It  can- 
not be  that  their  laws  prohibit  the  owners  from  killing 
their  slaves  because  those  slaves  are  human  beings, 
or  because  it  is  a  moral  evil  to  destroy  them.  If  that 
were  the  case,  how  can  they  justify  their  being  treated, 
in  all  respects,  like  brutes  ?  for  it  is  in  this  point  of 
view  alone  that  negroes  in  the  Southern  States  are 
considered  in  fact  as  different  from  cattle.  They  are 
bought  and  sold  —  they  are  fed  or  kept  hungry  —  they 
are  clothed  or  reduced  to  nakedness  —  they  are  beaten, 
turned  out  to  the  fury  of  the  elements,  and  torn  from 
their  dearest  connections,  with  as  little  remorse  as  if 
they  were  beasts  of  the  field." 

Many  of  the  grounds  of  opposition  to  the  Democratic 
party  have,  since  Jefferson's  day,  become  obsolete ; 
but  as  the  hostility  founded  on  sectional  dislike,  such 
as  is  evinced  in  the  foregoing  extract,  has  continued 
and  constantly  increased  till  the  present  time,  and  has 
ever  formed  an  element  in  the  party  politics  of  the 
country,  and  was  intimately  connected  with  the  fate  of 
the  late  Whig  party,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider 
it  a  little  more  in  detail.  The  sentence  quoted  above  was 
published  before  New  England  had  been  encroached 
upon  by  the  slave  power.  It  was  published,  in  con- 
nection with  a  vast  amount  of  similar  matter,  about 
the  close  of  Washington's  administration,  which  must 
convince  the  candid  mind  that,  at  the  outset,  the  abuse 
of  Southern  society  and  Southern  institutions  by  New 
England  people,  was  not  and  could  not  have  been  in 
retaliation  for  what  in  later  days  has  been  termed 
"  Southern  aggressions."  In  what,  during  the  adminis- 
trations of  Washington  and  John  Adams,  had  the  South 
misused  the  North  ?  But  still  we  see  at  that  time  influ- 


THE*  WHIG   PARTY.  70 

ential  New  England  journals  characterizing  their  South- 
ern neighbors  as  fiends.  At  that  time  even  Louisiana 
and  Florida  had  not  been  purchased,  which  might,  as 
encroachments  of  the  slave  power,  have  been  interposed 
as  a  justification.  Candor  must  acknowledge  that  the 
sectional  warfare  between  the  North  arid  South  orig- 
inated in  the  former,  as  no  historian  can  discover  an 
excuse  for  such  feelings  as  were  manifested  by  such 
language  as  we  have  quoted.  It  is  right  that^we  of 
New  England  should  consider  this  fairly  ;  because,  if  it 
be  true  in  fact  that  we  were  the  first  to  commence  a 
crusade  against  the  institutions  and  people  of  the  South ; 
if  we  were  the  first  to  raise  a  fratricidal  hand  in  sectional 
warfare  ;  if  we  were  the  first  to  arouse  jealousy  and 
hatred  between  the  two  sections  of  the  country ;  we 
should  look  to  it  well  that  our  over-zealous  humanity  — 
to  give  the  motive  no  worse  a  name  —  may  not  prove  the 
ruin  of  our  country.  Modern  expressions  of  Northern 
men  and  women  against  the  South  cannot  well  be  more 
bitter  and  irritating  than  those  used  in  New  England  in 
1196  ;  but  they  are  now  more  abundant,  being  found 
and  heard  everywhere.  But  in  these  later  days  the 
unmitigated  hatred  (no  stronger,  however,  than  enter- 
tained by  many  in  '96)  indulged  by  vast  numbers  in  the 
North  towards  the  South,  is  excused  by  the  plea  that 
the  South  is  and  has  been  scheming  to  extend  her  insti- 
tutions. Northern  people  are  perhaps  a  little  too  incau- 
tious in  accepting  such  an  excuse  for  entertaining  unfair 
and  unfriendly  feelings  towards  their  Southern  neigh- 
bors. We  have  a  right  to  hate  and  detest  slavery,  and 
should  belie  our  natures  were  we  riot  to  do  so  ;  but  to 
do  injustice  to  those  unfortunately  afflicted  with  the 
charge  of  African  slaves,  were  to  render  us  worse  than 


80  A   HISTORY    OP 

the  slaveholders  themselves.  We  are  proud  to  think 
that  New  England  has  purer  morals  and  religion  than 
any  other  part  of  the  world.  For  intelligence,  virtue, 
and  religion,  we  are  unexcelled.  It  therefore  becomes 
us,  the  first  thing  we  do,  to  see  that  we  are  just.  Let  us 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  South  is  somewhat  benight- 
ed ;  that  her  religion  is  far  from  the  genuine  stamp ;  that 
her  morals  are  far  inferior  to  those  of  New  England  ; 
still,  is  it  becoming  or  morally  right  in  us  to  bring  railing 
accusations  against  them  ?  —  to  treat  them  worse  than 
a  Christian  spirit  would  a  fiend  ?  When  divested  of 
our  prejudice  and  excitement,  and  reason  and  common 
sense  assume  the  ascendency,  we  must  look  at  the  mat- 
ter in  a  different  light.  For  their  unfortunate  institution 
no  one  pretends  they  are  to  blame.  They  are  indebted 
for  it  to  England  and  New  England,  without  whose 
capital,  sailors  and  ships,  Southern  slavery  had  never 
existed.  For  their  ignorance  we  should  pity  them,  and 
send  them  our  schoolmasters,  who  in  happy  years 
past  have  ever  found  a  cordial  reception  everywhere  in 
the  South.  For  their  bad  morals,  and  incorrect  religion, 
we  should  extend  our  heartfelt  sympathies,  and  do  all 
in  our  power,  by  prayers  in  their  behalf,  and  by  setting 
them  perfect  Christian  examples,  to  win  them  from  the 
error  of  their  wajrs.  The  good  Christian,  the  judicious 
missionary,  never  attempts  to  convert  and  reform  the 
victim  of  error  by  violent  denunciations.  If  it  be  true 
that  of  late  years  the  South  has  been  anxious  to  increase 
the  number  of  slave  states,  is  it  just  to  say  that  her 
object  in  so  doing  is  to  wrest  from  the  North  any  of  her 
rights?  Has  the  South,  except  in  multiplying  slave 
states,  ever  been  seen  infringing  upon  Northern  rights  ? 
It  is  not  pretended.  Then,  would  it  be  any  stretch  of 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  81 

liberality  on  our  part  to  make  this  allowance  for  her ; 
viz.,  that  she,  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  govern- 
ment, witnessing  the  commencement  of  a  fierce  crusade 
against  her  and  her  institutions,  thought  it,  as  a  matter 
of  safety,  —  of  self-protection  against  growing  Northern 
prejudices,  —  quite  necessary  for  her  to  have  the  ascend- 
ency in,  at  least,  one  branch  of  the  national  govern- 
ment ?  That,  by  increasing  slave  states,  the  South  could 
expect  to  get  the  whole  government  into  her  hands, 
none  but  the  most  unlettered  and  simple-minded  ever 
for  a  moment  supposed.  The  great  majority  of  the 
people  are  and  ever  must  be  in  the  free  states ;  and, 
without  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  the  South  must  always 
be  at  the  mercy  of  the  North.  That  she  should  be  re- 
luctant to  trust  to  the  sentiment  of  the  North,  of  which 
she  has  personally  witnessed  so  poor  examples,  no 
one  is  surprised  ;  and,  under  the  circumstances,  he  must 
be  a  harsh  judge  of  human  actions,  who  would  much  cen- 
sure the  South  for  the  efforts  she  has  made  to  secure 
some  check  upon  what  she  feels  she  is  destined  to  expe- 
rience of  Northern  aggressions.  Of  course,  we  shall 
never  trample  upon  her  rights,  nor  treat  her  otherwise 
than  witli  justice  and  kindness  ;  but  human  nature  is 
known  to  be  an  uncertain  law,  and  we  should  not  be 
surprised  to  find  that  our  neighbors  in  the  South  desire 
a  surer  guaranty  of  their  rights.  We  denounce  the 
South  violently  because  she  has  gained  several  states 
by  the  Louisiana  purchase,  and  by  the  Mexican  war. 
Some  of  them  were  free  states  ;  more  of  them  slave. 
Allowing  all  that  is  charged  against  her,  in  regard  to 
these  acquisitions,  to  be  true,  should  the  strong,  power- 
ful, and  magnanimous  North  treasure  it  up  as  a  cause 
of  hostility  towards  her  ?  We  must  force  ourselves  to 


82  A   HISTORY   OF 

decide  candidly  these  questions,  or  we  shall  ere  long 
find  we  have  no  common  country  under  the  protection 
of  whose  strong  arm  we  can  quarrel  with  one  another. 
That  the  South  should  struggle  for  the  preservation  of 
political  power  we  should  expect ;  but,  as  that  struggle 
ever  has  been  and  ever  must  be  vain,  we  should  witness 
it  with  feelings  of  sympathy  ;  and,  when  we  bear  the 
victories  from  her  less  successful  hand,  we  should  treat 
her  with  tenderness  as  an  unfortunate  rival.  To  exult 
over  a  fallen  foe,  and  heap  upon  him  opprobrious  epithets, 
is  characteristic  of  the  warfare  of  demons,  and  not  at 
all  becoming  the  sons  of  New  England.  It  is  not  dis- 
puted that  the  slave  states  have  been  increased  by  the 
acquisition  of  territory  by  our  government;  but  whether 
or  not  the  North  has  not  more  profited  by  that  increase 
of  territory  than  any  other  section,  is,  to  say  the  least, 
an  open  question.  Moreover,  in  our  fury  towards  the 
South,  we  forget  that  all  the  free  states  formed  out  of 
the  north-western  territory  —  the  pride  and  strength 
of  our  country  —  were  the  gift  of  Virginia.  That  noble 
state  gave  them  to  the  Union,  and  voluntarily  devoted 
them  to  freedom.  Why  should  we  forget  this  while 
nursing  our  hatred  towards  that  Section  ? 

We  have  seen  that  early,  in  New  England,  the  hatred 
of  the  South,  among  some  classes,  was  bitter  in  the  ex- 
treme. It  vented  itself  in  denunciations  of  slavery. 
The  slave  controversy  was  more  or  less  agitated  at  the 
formation  of  the  Confederation,  and  then  again  at  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution.  At  those  dates,  however, 
the  bearing  of  slavery  upon  the  ratio  of  representation 
occasioned  the  most  difficulty.  The  bulk  of  the  slaves 
were  in  the  South,  as  many  for  that  market  had  been 
sold  by  Northern  States  preparatory  to  acts  of  emanci- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  83 

pation.  The  representation  was  to  be  according  to  the 
population,  there  being  one  representative  to  a  certain 
specified  number  of  people.  In  the  enumeration,  as  a 
basis  of  representation,  every  living  being  in  human 
form  who  was  a  citizen  was  to  be  counted :  old  and 
young ;  men,  women,  and  children ;  white,  red,  and 
black ;  and  inmates  of  asylums  and  prisons.  There 
was  to  be  no  exception  —  all  human  beings  were  to  be 
counted.  The  South  saw  no  reason  for  exempting  their 
slaves  from  the  enumeration  ;  but  the  North  objected. 
That  the  slaves  should  form  a  basis  of  representation, 
was  conceded  ;  but  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  would 
not  recognize  them  as  equal  to  whites,  and  it  was  pro- 
vided that  in  their  enumeration  two-fifths  should  be 
thrown  out,  leaving  three-fifths  of  the  slaves  to  be  in- 
cluded with  the  free,  in  establishing  the  basis  for  repre- 
sentation and  taxation.  The  limitation  of  course  was 
against  the  South  ;  but  she  surrendered  the  point  out 
of  a  compromising  spirit.  But  the  world  saw,  from  the 
discussions  on  the  subject,  that  slavery  was  eventually 
to  become  an  element  of  discord  in  the  United  States. 
By  recurrence  to  unerring  guides  it  will  be  found  that 
the  anti-slavery  outcry  in  New  England  was  but  the 
echo  from  a  shriek  for  freedom  by  liberty-loving  Old 
England.  Wilberforce  and  his  coadjutors  commenced 
their  labors  in  the  anti-slavery  cause  just  at  the  period 
of  the  adoption  of  the  United  States  Constitution.  It 
was  about  that  period  that  Parliament,  under  the  Wil- 
berforce movement,  began  to  agitate  the  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade  ;  and  the  speeches  of  British  orators,  the 
books  and  essays  of  British  authors,  and  the  songs  of 
British  poets,  vividly  portraying  the  foul  sin  of  slavery, 
were  instantly  reproduced,  perused,  and  wept  over,  in 
8* 


84  A    HISTORY    OF 

New  England.  Cowper's  spirited  poem,  which  came 
forth  at  that  period,  no  doubt  inspired  millions  of  hearts 
with  hatred  of  slavery.  Our  own  early  sentiments  of 
hostility  to  human  bondage  were  awakened  and  fixed 
by  that  touching  production.  It  was  not  easy  to  induce 
the  British  government  to  give  up  the  slave-trade,  and 
emancipate  her  slaves ;  but  still  it  was  finally  accom- 
plished. The  labors  of  Wilberforce  and  Clarkson,  in 
those  enterprises,  are  familiar  to  the  world ;  but 'these 
philanthropists  alone  would  never  have  accomplished 
much,  had  not  their  efforts  been  in  accordance  with  what 
was  conceived  to  be  the  policy  of  the  government.  Pitt 
favored  the  abolishment  of  the  slave-trade  ;  but  success 
was  more  than  even  he  could  accomplish.  Fox  under- 
took it,  and  his  effort  was  crowned  with  success.  But 
it  must  not  be  taken  for  granted  at  once  that  humanity 
alone  was  England's  motive  for  her  action  in  regard  to 
slavery.  It  would  have  been  a  ridiculous  inconsistency 
for  the  nation  that  had  just  failed  in  an  effort  to  enslave 
our  forefathers  in  America,  and  was  at  the  time  em- 
ployed in  reducing  republican  France  to  its  former  feu- 
dal bonds,  to  thus  interest  herself  in  the  establishment 
of  the  freedom  of  African  negroes,  purely  on  the  score 
of  humanity.  The  fact  is,  by  her  keenest-sighted  public 
men  the  inhumanity  of  the  act  was  foreseen,  and  by 
subsequent  events  has  been  proved.  The  British  states- 
men were  obliged  to  resort  to  other  arguments  before 
their  measures  in  regard  to  their  slaves  could  be  brought 
about.  England  considered  that  her  material  inter- 
ests were  involved  in  the  measure  ;  but  whether  they 
were  or  not  is  not  perhaps  yet  fully  determined.  The 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade  did  not  seriously  affect  the 
production  of  our  great  cotton  staple,  for  which  Eng- 
land is  dependent  on  us  ;  and  consequently  their  slaves 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  85 

in  the  islands  off  our  southern  coasts  were  manumitted. 
Negroes,  however,  are  not  Anglo-Saxons.  The  enfran- 
chisement of  those  in  the  West  Indies  has  not  as  yet 
imparted  the  slightest  spark  of  the  spirit  of  freedom 
to  the  negroes  in  our  Southern  States ;  and,  so  long  as 
our  cotton  plantations  are  worked  by  African  slaves, 
Great  Britain  can  never  hope  to  compete  with  us  in  the 
production  of  the  raw  material.  Notwithstanding  the 
intrigues  and  efforts  of  the  British  court  to  prevent  the 
consummation  of  our  Union,  and  their  studied  designs 
of  alienating  the  people  of  the  Northern  and  Southern 
sections  of  the  country  from  each  other  with  a  view  of 
producing  a  separation  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  mis- 
sion of  her  special  agent  a  short  time  afterwards  sent 
through  New  England  to  seduce  her  from  the  Union  ; 
all  such  machinations  have  as  yet  resulted  in  nothing 
equal  to  the  hopes  of  that  scheming  and  ambitious 
power.  Well  indeed  might  England,  in  1787  and  1788, 
essay  her  intrigues  and  insidious  influence  to  accom- 
plish what  she  so  signally  failed  ten  years  before  to  ac- 
complish with  the  force  of  arms.  The  division  and 
separation  of  the  United  States  was  at  an  early  day  of 
the  Revolution  a  favorite  project  of  the  British  cabinet, 
and  two  large  armies  were  put  in  motion  for  its  accom- 
plishment. One  was  to  proceed  up  the  Hudson  to  meet 
a  large  force  under  Burgoyne,  who  moved  down  Lake 
Champlain  from  Canada.  The  Green  Mountain  boys 
happened  at  that  moment  to  be  strongly  in  favor  of 
union,  and  merrily  enough  escorted  Burgoyne's  army 
through  New  England  to  its  music  ;  that  is,  to  the  tune 
of  Yankee  Doodle.  The  battle  of  Bennington  checked 
Burgoyne's  army  and  led  to  his  surrender  ;  and  in  all 
human  probability  the  success  of  the  great  revolutionary 


86  A   HISTORY   OF 

struggle  turned  upon  that  event.  The  success  of  the 
Burgoyne  expedition  must  have  overthrown  the  Amer- 
ican cause,  and  the  fate  of  that  expedition  was  settled 
by  the  Vennonters.  At  that  day,  British  sentiments 
were  not  particularly  regarded  amongst  the  Green 
Mountains.  It  is  true,  Vermont  borrowed  her  inhab- 
itants from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  but  did  not 
at  first  take  along  the  exalted  humanitarian  feelings  of 
those  colonies.  Their  love  of  liberty  and  justice  was 
not  excelled  anywheres  but  we  are  sorry  to  say  that 
the  original  settlers  of  the  Green  Mountains,  of  whom 
Ethan  Allen  was  a  type,  had  not  that  regard  for  sacred 
things  that  was  peculiar  to  the  Atlantic  colonies.  Their 
disregard  of  Sabbath  and  sanctuary  privileges,  and  their 
rough,  uncouth,  and  somewhat  profane,  method  of  speech, 
would  have  rendered  them  outlaws  in  the  more  religious 
states  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  But  these 
Green  Mountain  boys,  nevertheless,  loved  freedom  and 
contemned  vice  and  crime  ;  and  when  King  George  at- 
tempted to  separate  them  from  their  Southern  brethren 
by  a  fence  of  bayonets,  they  raised  at  Bennington  a 
shout  of  defiance  which  was  soon  echoed  by  the  Vir- 
ginians from  Yorktown.  But  the  rough  and  unpolished 
manners  of  these  boys  have  been  much  improved  upon 
by  their  children,  and  the  records  of  the  state  will  now 
show  the  Vermonters  the  most  Christian  and  virtuous 
people  on  earth.  The  reader,  if  he  has  doubts,  will 
please  examine  the  statute-books,  and  these  will  show 
a  morality  unparalleled.  Horse-racing  and  gambling 
are  prohibited  ;  theatrical  and  circus  and  all  other  kinds 
of  shows  are  forbidden.  Lotteries  are  dug  up  root  and 
branch.  Of  course,  no  Vermonter  ever  sees  a  theatri- 
cal exhibition,  go  where  he  may,  or  ever  pays  a  cent 
for  lottery  tickets.  Sabbath-breaking,*  and  profane 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  87 

swearing  are  both  visited  with  penalties  ;  and,  as  a 
prosecution  for  either  was  never  known  in  the  state,  it 
follows  as  a  matter  of  certainty  that  such  offences  have 
never  been  committed.  Rumselling  is  punished  in  the 
severest  manner,  and  may  be  considered  as  forever  at 
an  end.  And  slavery !  her  statute-books  are  sprinkled 
all  over  with  acts  in  denunciation  of  it.  Vermont  has 
always  had  a  wholesome  horror  of  slavery,  and,  so  far 
as  sin  may  be  involved  in  the  system,  nobody  can  doubt 
but  her  skirts  are  clean  from  it.  It  has  ever  been  ob- 
jected to  New  England,  by  foreigners,  that  it  abounds 
too  much  in  cant.  But  the  goodness  of  the  Vermonters 
of  later  times  is  not  in  profession  merely  ;  any  one  can 
look  into  their  laws  and  see  that  all  their  excellences 
are  carried  out.  That  is  the  right  way.  A  reform  never 
becomes  un  fait  accompli,  until  it  finds  its  way  into 
the  statute-book.  *When  such  movements  are  found 
thus  engrossed,  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  the  reformer  has 
himself  been  in  the  legislature,  and  the  accomplishment 
of  his  work  can  be  relied  on.  But  perhaps  this  is  some- 
what digressive.  The  writer  alludes  to  these  things  to 
show  that  his  native  state,  though  in  early  times  distin- 
guished for  rather  rough  settlers,  is  not  now,  in  all  moral 
reforms,  behind  the  best  state  in  New  England.  Of 
course,  we  would  not  claim  that  none  of  the  leaven  of 
unrighteousness,  which  originally  abounded  in  the  state, 
now  remains  ;  because  there  are  a  few  of  us  who  have 
yet  veneration  for  the  somewhat  antiquated  and  out-of- 
fashion  institutions  of  our  ancestors,  and  are  rather  a 
clog  upon  the  progressive  morality  of  the  present  age. 
Of  such  it  is  no  less  than  fair  to  remark  that  our  com- 
pulsory piety  exists  only  by  force  of  local  law,  and 
would  not,  probably,  be  recognized  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  states  in  which  such  laws  prevail. 


88  A   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER    IX. 

FACTIOUSNESS    OF    THE    FEDERAL    PARTY,    AND    ITS     OPPOSITION    TO    THE 

WAR-MEASURES,    CAUSE     OF     ITS     RUIN. ATTEMPT     OF     ENGLAND     TO 

DESTROY     AMERICAN     COMMERCE.  IMPRESSMENT     OF     SEAMEN    AND 

THEIR   TREATMENT. ORDERS    IN    COUNCIL  AND   FRENCH   DECREES. 

BLOCKADE. DAMAGE     TO     AMERICAN       COMMERCE. FRENCH      AND 

BRITISH  PARTIES  IN  THE  U.  S.  —  AMERICAN  COMMERCE  IN  THE  NORTH. 
—  THE  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR.  —  EMBARRASSING  CONDITION  OF  THE 
GOVERNMENT.  —  JEFFERSON'S  COURSE,  ETC. 

THE  Federal  party  never  recovered  from  its  defeat  in 
1800.  Its  dignity,  propriety,  and  conservatism,  never 
appeared  so  prominent  after  that  event  as  before. 
In  endeavoring  to  regain  its  lost  ascendency,  its  efforts 
often  became  factious,  and  the  judgment,  the  deliberate 
judgment,  of  the  American  people  was  finally  pro- 
nounced against  it.  It  would  be  a  mistake,  however, 
to  suppose  that  that  party  did  not  embrace  in  its  ranks 
some  of  the  finest  minds  and  purest  patriots  of  the 
land ;  nor  must  it  be  concluded  that  political  perfection 
was  the  property  of  the  successful  party.  "The  Whig 
party  sprung  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  Federal  party, 
and  succeeded  it  as  the  opposition  of  the  Democracy  ; 
but,  before  the  nativity  of  the  Whig  party,  there  had 
been  a  change  of  times  from  the  days  of  Jefferson,  arid 
a  change  in  the  situation  and  politics  of  the  country. 
The  Whigs,  in  fact,  inherited  no  more  of  the  party 
measures  of  the  Federalists  than  they  did  of  the  Repub- 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  89 

licans  ;  indeed,  some  of  the  leading  Whigs  had  been 
Republicans,  and  many  of  the  Democratic  party  for- 
merly belonged  to  the  Federal  party.  The  great 
measure  by  which  the  prospects  of  the  Federalists  were 
forever  destroyed,  was  the  war  with  England  of  1812. 
Their  fierce  and  factious  opposition  to  that  measure,  and 
to  the  restrictive  measures  of  Jefferson's  administra- 
tion preceding  the  war,  proved  fatal  to  the  hopes  of 
Federalism,  and  was  the  means  of  establishing  the 
ascendency  of  the  Democracy  for  half  a  century.  It 
will  be  necessary  to  take  a  hurried  view  of  the  causes 
of  that  war  which  had  such  potent  influences  on  the 
politics  of  the  country. 

The  aptitude  of  America  for  commercial  enterprises 
was  early  discovered  by  England,  and  the  enterprising 
character  of  American  sailors  was  beautifully  noticed 
by  Burke.  On  the  establishment  of  independence,  our 
merchant  vessels  began  to  cover  the  ocean.  The  estab- 
lishment of  a  navy  was  one  of  the  patriotic  accomplish- 
ments of  the  administration  of  John  Adams,  for  which 
Democrats  ought  to  venerate  and  love  his  memory ; 
for  to  that  navy  were  they  indebted  for  the  glory  of  the 
war  that  has  given  them  such  a  permanent  hold  upon 
the  affections  of  the  American  people.  But  our  com- 
merce, from  its  dawn,  was  pounced  upon  by  England. 
She  rode  the  seas  triumphant,  and  proclaimed  and  felt 
herself  their  mistress.  The  raging  European  wars  had 
soon  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  all  the  commerce  of 
Europe,  and  England  and  America  were  doing  the  car- 
ryirig-trade  for  the  world.  The  promising  aspect  of 
American  commerce  was  not  favorably  regarded  by 
Britain. 


90  A   HISTORY    OF 

It  happened  .  that,  in  prosecuting  her  wars  with 
France,  the  British  were  constantly  in  great  need  of 
sailors  and  soldiers.  Her  method,  on  extraordinary 
occasions,  of  replenishing  her  navy,  was  by  impressment. 
A  naval  officer  with  marines  would  go  on  land,  and  seize 
upon  able-bodied  men,  and  carry  them  away  on  board  of 
ship,  and  compel  them  to  serve,  perhaps  for  years, 
before  they  were  again  permitted  to  visit  their  homes. 
Men-of-war  would  also  board  merchant  vessels  for  the 
same  purpose.  Immediately  after  the  establishment  of 
our  independence,  Great  Britain  commenced  impressing 
men  from  the  United  States  merchant  ships,  wherever 
found  upon  the  ocean.  They  did  this  under  the  pre- 
tence that  they  intended  to  impress  British  subjects 
only ;  but  the  impressing  officer  having  nothing  to 
guide  him  but  his  discretion,  and  as  at  the  time  both 
America  and  her  navy  were  regarded  with  contempt,  it 
was  often,  nay,  almost  always  the  case,  that  more  or 
less  of  American  citizens  were  impressed.  It  was  a 
maxim  of  the  British  law,  "  Once  a  subject,  always 
a  subject. "  The  right  df  a  citizen  to  expatriate  himself, 
and  become  the  citizen  of  another  country,  was  not 
recognized  by  the  laws  of  England.  Consequently 
those  American  citizens  depending  upon  naturalization 
for  exemption  from  impressment,  were  uniformly  seized 
by  the  impressing  officers.  The  result  was  that  citi- 
zens of  foreign  birth  withdrew  from  our  commercial 
service,  much  to  its  injury.  These  impressments  con- 
tinued up  to  the  war  of  1812,  and  many  were  the  Amer- 
icans forced  to  fight  British  battles  against  countries  at 
peace  with  the  United  States.  Not  only  this,  but  when 
war  ensued  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  American  citizens  were  forced,  under  the  lash, 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  91 

and  threats  of  death,  to  do  battle  against  their  own 
country.  The  number  of  impressments  can  never  be 
accurately  ascertained  ;  but  it  amounted  to  many  thou- 
sands. The  Java  and  Guerriere,  when  taken  by  our 
navy,  had  aboard  of  them  many  Americans  who  had 
been  pressed  into  service  against  their  country  ;  arid 
the  British  navy  everywhere  abounded  in  impressed 
American  seamen.  Some  American  authorities  at  one 
time  estimated  the  whole  number  of  impressments  as 
high  as  fourteen  thousand  ;  and  the  number  of  native- 
born  Americans  in  this  manner  dragged  into  the  service 
of  England  was  very  large.  Of  course,  our  agents, 
consuls,  and  ministers,  in  the  various  parts  of  the 
British  empire,  exerted  themselves  in  behalf  of  the 
impressed,  and  procured  many  discharges  ;  but  these 
discharges  were  after  great  delay,  and  many  hardships 
endured  by  the  wronged  citizen  ;  and,  as  ascertained  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  there  were  many  who  had  been 
forced  to  drag  out  slavery  in  the  British  fleets  until  the 
war  closed. 

At  that  day,  Britain  was  not  disposed  to  look  very 
graciously  upon  this  young  republic.  She  was  an 
ancient  and  haughty  monarchy,  and  the  United  States 
were  thought  a  little  upstart  of  a  government,  for  which 
her  arrogance  should  have  but  little  respect.  The  treat- 
ment of  Americans  thus  impressed  by  British  naval  offi- 
cers was  haughty  and  cruel.  No  greater  indignity 
could  be  offered  any  country  than  to  thus  impress  her 
citizens,  and  force  them  to  bear  arms  against  her.  It 
was  not  only  an  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual under  the  laws  of  nations,  but  was  also  a  gross 
outrage  upon  humanity,  and  could  only  be  perpetrated 
by  senseless  tyrants.  After  war  was  declared  against 
9 


92  A   HISTORY   OF 

England  by  the  United  States,  the  American  sailors  thus 
impressed  begged  to  be  excused  from  serving  against 
their  own  country,  and  claimed  to  be  treated  as  prison- 
ers of  war ;  but  such  applications  were  answered  with 
irons  and  the  lash.  Authenticated  cases  of  the  kind 
were  at  the  time  established.  Perhaps  all  British 
officers  did  not  carry  their  contempt  of  the  rights  of 
Americans  so  far  as  this  ;  but  many  did.  The  impress- 
ments of  American  seamen  were  continual,  notorious, 
and  brutal  in  manner.  Many  instances  of  the  kind 
were  certified  by  authentic  proof.  Among  others,  we 
read  of  the  impressment  and  conveyance  on  board  of 
the  British  man-of-war  Brunswick,  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  John  Adams,  of  Eliphalet  Ladd,  John  Eddes, 
and  others.  One  of  the  press-gang,  with  a  drawn 
sword,  cut  Ladd  on  the  forehead,  and  made  a  wound  of 
three  inches.  Eddes,  for  claiming  to  be  an  American 
citizen,  was  whipped  with  a  rope's  end  until  his  back 
was  bruised  from  his  shoulders  to  his  hips.  Neither  to 
Eddes  nor  to  Ladd  was  any  surgical  aid  allowed,  and 
the  sufferings  subsequently  experienced  from  their 
wounds  was  most  intense.  William  Savage,  impressed 
at  the  same  time  with  Ladd  and  Eddes,  was  severely 
beaten  by  the  boatswain's  mate,  who  doubled  a  rope 
of  about  three  inches  and  a  half  thick,  and  plied 
it  to  his  neck,  back,  face,  head,  and  stomach,  until  the 
mate  was  exhausted,  when  he  gave  the  rope  to  one 
of  the  marines,  who  applied  upwards  of  a  hundred 
blows.  Savage  was  awfully  mangled,  externally  and 
internally,  the  infliction  being  followed  with  raising  of 
blood.  His  cruel  treatment  was  for  his  persistence  in 
claiming  to  be  an  American  citizen.  The  case  of  Isaac 
Clarke  was  touching ;  he  was  of  Salem,  Massachu- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  93 

setts.  Many  of  the  impressed  were  of  that  state. 
Clarke  was  impressed  from  the  ship  Jane,  off  Norfolk, 
by  the  British  ship  Porcupine,  and  presented  the  com- 
mander with  his  protection  from  a  United  States  cus- 
tom-house. The  paper  was  torn  in  pieces  before  his 
eyes  with  angry  oaths,  and  he  was  commanded  to  duty. 
On  Clarke's  remonstrating,  he  was  put  into  irons,  and 
the  next  morning  given  two  dozen  lashes.  He  was 
then  again  put  in  irons,  and  kept  on  Tme  biscuit  and  a 
pint  of  water  for  twenty-four  hours.  In  this  manner  he 
was  treated  for  a  week,  when  he  was  asked  by  the  com- 
mander if  he  would  do  his  duty.  On  refusal,  he  was 
stripped,  and  again  given  two  dozen  lashes,  and  kept 
another  week  on  the  former  allowance.  Being  then 
once  more  interrogated  if  he  would  go  to  work,  Clarke 
insisted  on  his  rights  as  an  American  citizen ;  where- 
upon the  commander  told  him  he  should  be  punished 
until  willing  to  submit,  and  ordered  a  repetition  of  the 
two  dozen  lashes,  and  that  a  very  heavy  iron  chain  be 
put  around  his  neck,  and  fastened  to  a  ring-bolt  in  the 
deck,  and  that  no  person  should  speak  to  him,  or  give 
him  anything  to  eat  or  drink,  saving  the  before-men- 
tioned allowance,  until  he  should  consent  to  go  to  work. 
In  that  manner  he  remained  nine  weeks,  and  was  so 
completely  exhausted  by  hunger  and  thirst  as  to  be 
obliged  to  yield.  Clarke  remained  enslaved  in  the 
British  service  for  upwards  of  two  years.  These  cases 
are  given  as  specimens,  as  no  American  citizen  was 
impressed  without  the  like  or  worse  usage.  But  the 
United  States  at  that  time  was  in  her  infancy,  and 
properly  enough  stood  in  awe  of  the  greatest  naval 
power  in  the  world.  The  cabinet  and  admiralty  courts 
of  England  were  constantly  beset  by  American  agents 


91  A    HISTORY    OF 

and  ministers ;  but  that,  power  with  fair  pretences 
amused  our  officials,  and  moved  on  in  her  career  of 
indifference  as  to  our  rights.  Mr.  Jefferson,  when  Sec- 
retary of  State  under  Washington's  administration, 
commenced  remonstrances  to  the  British  court  against 
impressments,  insisting  on  the  manly  rule  that  "the 
vessel  being  American  shall  be  evidence  that  the  sea- 
men on  board  her  are  such."  But  what  course  to  take 
was  an  embarrassing  question  for  this  country.  We  had 
no  army,  and  our  navy  was  in  its  infancy.  Remonstrance 
and  negotiation  were  resorted  to,  but  to  no  satisfactory 
effect.  It  was  universally  felt  in  America  that  impress- 
ments were  wrong  ;  but  people  were  divided  in  opinion 
as  to  how  long  efforts  for  a  peaceable  settlement  of  the 
question,  in  lieu  of  a  resort  to  arms,  should  be  contin- 
ued. As  England  was  at  war  with  France,  the  question 
as  to  making  war  on  the  former  drew  into  it  the  merits 
of  the  struggle  between  those  two  powers.  The  result 
was  that  those  who  were  for  making  war  on  England 
were  charged  with  being  partisans  of  France  ;  and  those 
in  favor  of  submitting  to  English  aggressions  were 
denounced  as  hostile  to  the  efforts  of  France  to  estab- 
lish freedom. 

But  Great  Britain  did  not  limit  her  disregard  of  the 
rights  of  the  young  republic  to  the  free  appropriation 
of  her  sailors.  While  England  and  France  were  at  war, 
America,  being  a  neutral  country,  was  entitled  to  carry 
on  her  commerce  with  both,  saving  in  contraband  arti- 
cles ;  that  is,  in  implements  and  munitions  of  war.  Amer- 
ica could  not  only  convey  her  own  produce  and  manu- 
factures to  the  markets  of  those  countries,  but  she 
could  likewise  carry  the  goods  of  other  countries,  and 
those  obtained  from  their  colonies,  to  them.  After 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  95 

Europe  became  involved  in  a  general  war,  the  carrying- 
trade  of  the  United  States  increased  with  wonderful 
rapidity.  The  whole  exports  of  this  country,  foreign 
and  domestic,  during  the  years  1803,  '4,  '5  and  ?6, 
amounted  to  upwards  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  This  rapid  growth  of  our  commerce 
excited  in  our  haughty  neighbor  fearful  forebodings,  and 
it  was  seen  that  something  must  be  done  to  give  it  a 
check.  According!}7",  in  1193,  commenced  the  issue  of 
that  series  of  orders  in  council  intended  for  the  over- 
throw of  American  commerce.  The  order  of  that  year 
directed  all  ships  of  war  and  privateers  to  seize  all  ships 
laden  with  goods,  the  produce  of  any  colony  belonging 
to  France,  or  carrying  provisions  or  other  supplies  for 
the  use  of  such  colonies,  and  to  bring  the  same  with 
their  cargoes  to  legal  adjudication  in  the  courts  of  ad- 
miralty. This  order  was  in  direct  violation  of  interna- 
tional law,  and  in  opposition  to  repeated  decisions  of 
British  courts  of  admiralty ;  and  what  rendered  it  more 
unjust  was  the  fact  that  it  was  issued  with  secrecy, 
evincing  on  the  part  of  England  a  decided  disposition  to 
plunder.  American  merchants  suffered  largely  by  this 
order,  which  caused  indignation  amongst  all  parties  in 
the  United  States.  Such  an  act  at  this  day  would  not 
be  tolerated  a  moment. 

But  the  British  orders  in  council  of  May  16th, 
1806,  were  a  still  stronger  blow  aimed  at  the  rights  of 
neutrals,  of  which  the  United  States  were  the  principal, 
and  nearly  the  only  one.  It  was  the  famous  order  for 
blockading  the  whole  coasts  of  Germany,  Holland,  and 
France !  It  is  well  understood  that,  by  the  law  of 
nations,  when  two  powers  are  at  war  they  are  respective- 
ly invested  with  certain  rights  and  privileges  in  regard 
9* 


96  A    HISTORY   OF 

to  neutrals  which  they  do  not  possess  in  time  of  peace. 
The  right  of  blockade  is  one  of  these  rights  ;  the  right 
of  search  another.  The  latter  mentioned  right  allows 
the  vessel-of-war  of  a  belligerent  to  visit  the  trading 
vessels  of  neutrals  dealing  with  her  enemy,  to  see  if 
they  have  aboard  any  contraband  articles.  A  declara- 
tion of  blockade,  when  made  by  a  belligerent  of  his 
enemy's  ports  or  harbors,  is  a  prohibition  to  all  the 
world  from  entering  into  them  for  purposes  of  commerce ; 
and,  when  properly  made,  and  under  the  proper  circum- 
stances, all  the  world  is  bound  to  regard  it.  If,  after 
the  regular  blockade  of  a  port,  a  neutral  vessel  enters, 
it  is  liable  to  seizure  ;  and,  if  seized,  is  forfeited.  But, 
to  render  a  declaration  of  blockade  justifiable  and  regu- 
lar, it  must  proceed  from  the  right  authority,  be  publicly 
made,  and  maintained  with  sufficient  blockading  force. 
In  this  respect,  the  laws  of  nations  require  that,  in  order 
to  render  the  communication  with  any  such  place  unlaw- 
ful to  a  neutral,  the  blockading  force  must  be  actually 
present,  investing  it,  and  with  sufficient  power  to  render 
such  communication  with  it  hazardous.  But  think  of 
the  British  order  of  blockade  of  the  whole  coast  of 
Europe  from  the  Elbe  to  Brest!  —  nearly  a  thousand 
miles !  All  the  navies  in  the  world  would  have  been 
insufficient  to  properly  invest,  as  by  blockade,  so  exten- 
sive a  coast ;  and  yet,  under  the  shadow  of  that  order, 
Great  Britain  claimed  the  right,  and  exercised  the  privi- 
lege, of  seizing  upon  every  merchant  ship  that  had 
traded  upon  those  tabooed  coasts,  and  made  free  plun- 
der of  them  !  It  was  no  more  nor  less  than  the  assumed 
right  of  England,  by  virtue  of  her  own  sovereign  will 
and  power,  to  forbid  all  nations  of  the  earth  from  trading 
with  her  enemy.  It  was  a  decree  made  when  American 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  97 

commerce  had,  prior  to  the  war,  reached  its  highest 
point,  arid  was  intended  to  drive  it  from  the  ocean. 

At  the  time  this  extraordinary  order  in  council,  which 
was  aimed  at  the  commerce  of  America,  and  designed 
for  the  benefit  of  that  of  England,  appeared,  Napoleon 
was  at  Berlin.  Western  Europe  at  the  time  was  pretty 
much  under  the  control  of  that  extraordinary  genius. 
Bonaparte  had  excluded  British  goods  from  the  country 
between  the  points  that  bounded  the  blockade,  in  retal- 
iation for  which,  or  to  force  her  own  wares  into  those 
countries,  the  declaration  of  blockade  was  made  by 
England.  Immediately,  however,  on  receiving  notice 
of  the  order  of  the  British  government,  Napoleon  issued 
what  has  been  called  the  Berlin  decree,  blockading  the 
British  Isles!  A  decree  no  doubt  intended  as  a  slur 
upon  the  British  orders  in  council,  as  he  had  no  means 
of  executing  it.  The  spirit  of  those  orders  and  decrees 
was  well  understood  at  the  time  by  the  Americans,  as 
by  the  English  order  their  commerce  was  foully  invaded, 
while  by  the  French  decree  they  received  no  injury  at 
all.  It  was  clear  enough  that  American  commerce,  and 
not  solely  the  injury  of  France,  was  aimed  at  by  that 
high-handed  measure. 

To  pass  over  the  millions  of  dollars'  damage  done  to 
American  commerce  by  these  British  orders  in  council, 
—  and  not  stopping  to  consider  the  indignation  of  the 
Americans,  their  attempts  at  obtaining  redress,  and 
the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  American  apologists  for 
the  course  of  Great  Britain, —  we  will  pursue  the  conduct 
of  that  power  a  little  further.  In  passing,  perhaps  a 
word  is  due  to  the  apologists  for  Great  Britain.  There 
were  not  many  Americans  that  attempted  to  justify  her 
acts  fully  ;  but  many  who  were  disposed  to  extenuate 


98  A    HISTORY   OF 

arid  submit  to  them.  It  must  riot  be  forgotten  that 
America  has  always  read  European  history,  and  studied 
its  politics,  through  British  spectacles.  This  country 
received  its  prevailing  opinions  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  from  British  writers  ; 
and  it  is  now  known  that  those  writers  were  either  the 
voluntary  or  subsidized  champions  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment. New  England,  taking  the  character  of  Napo- 
leon from  England,  could  not  but  feel  the  deepest 
anxiety  for  his  overthrow,  as  he  had  been  pictured  a 
monster  of  passion,  vice,  and  atheism.  So  abhorrent 
were  French  infidelity  and  sensuality  made  to  appear  to 
Americans,  that  many  enlisted  their  feelings  deeply  in 
the  cause  of  England  and  her  allies,  and  were  quite 
innocently  seduced  into  the  belief  that  the  orders  in 
council  were  necessary  instrumentalities  for  the  over- 
throw of  Napoleon.  Not  a  few  of  our  people  thought 
we  ought  to  make  common  cause  with  England  against 
her  enemy ;  and,  of  course,  such  were  not  disposed  to 
find  fault  with  any  necessary  step  taken  by  that  gov- 
ernment, if  thought  to  be  taken  solely  for  the  purpose 
alleged,  although  it  might  conflict  somewhat  with  Amer- 
ican interests.  The  fact  is,  the  simplicity  and  sincerity 
of  such  Americans  rendered  them  the  easy  dupes  of 
British  duplicity.  England  has  ever  been  a  loud 
preacher,  and  her  fortune  has  depended  much  on  the  fact 
that  quite  a  large  portion  of  the  world  is  governed  solely 
by  preaching.  If  satisfied  that  this  is  right,  there  are  mul- 
titudes who  never  inquire  further,  or  take  the  trouble  to 
ascertain  whether  the  preacher's  language  is  hypocriti- 
cal or  sincere.  But  England,  finding  her  will  and 
pleasure  to  be  the  only  code  of  laws  necessary  for  her 
to  observe  on  the  ocean  ;  that,  do  what  she  might,  her 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  99 

acts  would  not  only  be  acquiesced  in  by  this  country, 
but  apologized  for  by  many  of  our  people  ;  that,  since 
the  triumph  here  of  the  party  charged  with  French  views 
and  principles,  a  strong  feeling  of  disaffection  had 
sprung  up  between  two  portions  of  the  country,  the 
northern  portion  becoming  warmly  English  in  their  sym- 
pathies ;  and  finding,  in  short,  that  there  was  a  proba- 
bility that,  by  playing  upon  that  sectional  feeling,  and 
endeavoring  to  bring  the  Democratic  administration  into 
disgrace,  an  entire  separation  of  the  states  might  prob- 
ably be  effected,  she  carried  her  insolence  and  audacity 
so  far  as  soon  to  arouse  the  indignation  of  the  whole 
country  to  the  highest  pitch.  On  the  twenty-second  of 
June,  1801,  upon  our  own  coasts,  off  Norfolk,  the  British 
vessel  Leopard  attacked  the  American  frigate  Chesa- 
peake, killing  three  men,  and  wounding  many,  and  took 
from  her  four  men,  one  of  whom  was  tried  and  hanged 
as  a  deserter*  and  the  others  retained  some  five  years 
before  they  obtained  their  freedom.  An  instance  of  a 
more  wilful  and  insolent  disregard  of  a  nation's  rights 
is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  history.  The  commander  who 
perpetrated  the  act  was  guilty  of  a  high  crime,  —  was 
truly  guilty  of  murder, —  and  should  have  been  properly 
punished.  But  in  the  British  navy  a  feeling  of  contempt 
for  American  rights  was  prevalent,  and  the  overbearing 
and  haughty  conduct  of  British  officers  was  everywhere 
encountered  by  American  naval  officers.  The  affair  of 
the  Chesapeake  was  the  fruit  of  the  long-growing  con- 
tempt of  British  lordlings  for  American  pretensions. 
The  act  itself,  as  well  as  the  manner  it  was  dealt  with 
by  England,  spoke  volumes.  It  is  true  the  British  gov- 
ernment disavowed  it ;  but,  instead  of  punishing  the 
offender,  he  was  rewarded.  As  a  matter  of  form,  and 


100  A   HISTORY    OF 

to  give  the  appearance  of  censure,  he  was  removed  from 
the  station  he  then  occupied,  but  was  placed  in  a  more 
desirable  one. 

The  measures  taken  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  resistance 
to  British  aggressions  were  at  the  time  violently  de- 
nounced, and,  perhaps,  were  not  the  wisest  that  could 
possibly  have  been  taken  ;  but  what  better  course,  under 
all  the  circumstances,  could  have  been  pursued,  would 
be  hard  to  discover.  As  for  war  with  England,  the 
thought  was  considered,  even  by  the  Federalists,  as 
ridiculous.  Without  granting  that  war  should  have  at 
once  been  declared,  no  measures  better  than  those 
taken  by  Jefferson  could  possibly  have  been  resorted  to. 
The  first  step,  after  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake,  taken 
by  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  the  issue  of  a  proclamation  requir- 
ing all  armed  vessels  commissioned  by  Great  Britain, 
then  within  the  waters  or  harbors  of  the  United  States, 
to  leave  immediately,  and  forbidding  the  future  entrance 
of  such  vessels  into  the  same.  This  proclamation 
was  made  July  2d,  180*7.  During  that  year  intense 
excitement  pervaded  the  country.  England  was  power- 
ful, and  daily  increasing  in  power,  acquiring  immense 
gains  by  her  commerce,  and  by  what  she  plundered  from 
other  nations.  But  the  commerce  of  the  United  States 
was  not  yet  annihilated,  nor  was  this  country  bullied 
into  a  partial  position  in  regard  to  the  European  contro- 
versy. It  seemed  to  be  expected  by  England  that 
America  would  resent  the  Berlin  decree  of  Napoleon, 
although  as  to  us  it  proved  an  entire  nullity.  That 
American  commerce,  and  not  solely  the  design  of  affect- 
ing France,  formed  the  objects  of  the  orders  in  council, 
was  apparent  from  the  order  of  November  llth,  180T,  if 
never  before.  A  reason  for  this  order  was  the  complaint 


THE   WHIG    PART*  10] 

that  the  United  States  had  acquiesced  in  the  Berlin 
decree.  The  last-mentioned  order  declared  that  all  ves- 
sels bound  to  France  or  any  of  her  dependencies,  or  any 
port  from  which  British  vessels  were  excluded,  and  all 
vessels  bearing  French  consular  certificates  of  origin  of 
cargo,  should  be  liable  to  seizure  and  forfeiture  !  The 
weight  of  all  these  orders  fell  with  crushing  effect  upon 
this  country.  They  were  commercial  in  their  objects. 
France  had  no  navy  that  durst  appear  upon  the  ocean  ; 
and  Napoleon,  though  he  could  issue  retaliatory  decrees, 
could  not  stretch  his  arm  beyond  the  coast.  They  were 
decrees,  el  preterea  nihil.  His  Milan  decree  was  in 
answer  to  the  orders  of  November  llth,  1807  ;  but 
Napoleon,  though  omnipotent  on  land,  had  no  power  to 
enforce  his  decrees  upon  the  ocean.  Immediately  after 
the  orders  in  council  of  November  llth,  to  wit,  on  the 
25th  of  November,  180T,  an  additional  order  was  issued 
to  the  effect  that  trade  might  be  permitted  between  the 
United  States  and  France,  and  French  dependencies,  on 
the  condition  that  the  vessels  engaged  in  it  should  enter  some 
British  port,  pay  a  transit  duty,  and  take  out  licenses ! 
Between  the  extravagances  of  the  British  and  French 
decrees,  American  commerce  was  in  danger  of  annihila- 
tion. It  could  not  escape  falling  a  victim  to  either  one 
or  the  other  of  these  powers  ;  if  it  escaped  Scylla,  it  was 
in  danger  of  falling  into  Charybdis. 


A   HISTORY   OP 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   PROTECTORS   OF   NEW    ENGLAND    COMMERCE  AND   OP   THE   HONOR   OP 

THE    COUNTRY    POUND    IN    THE    SOUTH   AND    WEST THE   EMBARGO. 

THE   ELECTION    OF    MR.     MADISON. THE     DESTRUCTION    OF     COMMERCE 

OCCASIONED     BY   BRITISH     ORDERS    IN    COUNCIL    CHARGED    TO    THE   EM- 
BARGO. —  RESISTANCE    OF    THE   EMBARGO    IN    NEW    ENGLAND. STATE 

RIGHTS   AND    NULLIFICATION    IN   MASSACHUSETTS. JOHN    HENRY  SENT 

BY    ENGLAND    TO    FOMENT   DISUNION. HIS    DESPATCHES.  THE    ERS- 

KINE   TREATY.  —  NON-INTERCOURSE.  —  COURSE   OF   ENGLAND. 

IT  is  natural  for  political  parties  to  find  fault  with 
each  other's  acts  ;  and  human  weakness,  which  is  the 
attribute  of  all  parties,  should  not  be  overlooked  in  the 
study  of  history.  New  England  was  the  seat  of  Fed- 
eralism, and  the  encroachments  of  England  upon  our 
commerce  were  peculiarly  oppressive  to  that  part  of  the 
country.  In  preventing  the  people  of  the  United  States 
from  enjoying  the  carrying-trade  for  the  colonies  of 
France  and  Spain,  England  aimed  a  blow  at  the  interests 
of  New  England.  This  was  felt  to  be  so.  From  1793 
up  to  a  late  period  in  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, the  leading  merchants  of  the  North  were  loud  in 
their  denunciations  of  England's  outrages  upon  Amer- 
ican commerce  ;  but,  when  the  time  came  for  a  vindi- 
cation of  the  rights  of  that  commerce,  it  seems  quite 
strange  to  find  that  its  defenders  and  champions  were  the 
West  and  South  ;  and  that  the  North  was,  as  a  general 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  103 

thing,  opposed  to  the  measures  taken  by  the  general 
government  for  its  protection. 

The  insolent  attack  upon  the  Chesapeake  by  the 
Leopard,  took  place  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  June, 
180 Y.  Mr.  Jefferson  called  an  extra  session  of  Congress 
on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  October  ;  and  the  remedy 
by  that  body  devised  for  the  hostilities  to  American 
commerce  practised  by  France  and  England  was  the 
embargo,  which  was  intended  to  wholly  suspend  all 
foreign  trade.  An  act  to  this  effect  was  passed  on  the 
twenty-third  of  December.  That  the  embargo  was  a 
necessary  and  justifiable  measure,  under  the  circum- 
stances, no  one  now  would  doubt ;  but  that  it  was  con- 
tinued too  long,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  remedies,  may 
be  true  enough.  It  was  continued  until  the  first  of 
March,  1809, — to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison, — 
before  it  was  repealed.  It  was  certainly  a  heavy  blow 
to  England,  as  the  United  States  had  become,  as  a  mar- 
ket, almost  indispensable  to  her ;  but,  unfortunately, 
New  England  felt  that  she  was  also  a  sore  sufferer  by 
the  measure. 

In  the  complaints  of  New  England  there  was  thought 
to  be  much  unfairness.  Her  commerce,  it  is  true,  was 
prostrated  ;  but  how  could  it  exist  under  the  British 
orders  and  French  decrees  ?  The  embargo  was  the 
result  of  these  orders  and  decrees  ;  but,  as  the  fall  of 
our  commerce  was  subsequent  to  the  embargo,  many 
were  disposed  to  limit  their  vision  to  that  act,  and  see 
nothing  beyond.  Therefore,  by  many,  the  ruin  of  com- 
merce was  charged  to  the  embargo,  as  though  it  had  not 
been  annihilated  by  England  and  France.  The  embargo 
was  laid  to  save  American  property  and  honor.  If  the 
country  was  not  in  a  condition  to  vindicate  its  honor 
10 


104  A    HISTORY   OF 

upon  the  ocean,  it  was  resolved  to  withdraw  from  that 
theatre  until  it  could  acquire  more  power,  or  become 
enabled  to  maintain  its  rights  through  some  other 
medium.  But,  allowing  the  embargo  to  have  been  an 
unjustifiable  and  impolitic  act,  still,  while  it  was  the 
law  of  the  land,  all  parts  of  the  country  should  have 
submitted  to  it.  Its  evasion  should  not  have  been  coun- 
tenanced Toy  upright  and  moral  men.  Although  all  parts 
of  the  country  conceded  to  New  England  the  very  high- 
est character  for  virtue,  intelligence,  and  the  Christian 
graces,  it  was  in  bitter  terms  complained  of  her  that  she 
did  all  she  well  could,  short  of  civil  war,  to  nullify  the 
acts  laying  restrictions  upon  commerce.  It  is  true 
she  pretended  that  the  embargo  was  unconstitutional ; 
but  the  uncharitable  considered  this  view  taken  by  her 
of  'it  only  as  a  pretence.  To  attempt  to  throw  off  alle- 
giance to  unpleasant  laws,  by  affecting  to  consider  them 
unconstitutional,  was  thought  to  be  disingenuous,  as 
there  was  a  ready  legal  way  of  testing  that  question. 
Although  embargo  acts  had  been  passed  under  the 
administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams,  and  are 
clearly  within  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress, 
the  one  laid  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  pronounced  unconstitutional,  and  denounced  as  a 
high-handed  act  of  tyranny.  As  the  excitement  occa- 
sioned in  the  North  by  the  embargo  act,  and  the 
enforcing  act,  so  called,  was  extreme, — as  the  opposi- 
tion was  so  violent  as  to  render  that  measure  almost  a 
dead  letter  in  New  England,  and  attract  attention 
abroad,  and  lead  to  singular  events,  —  it  will  be  well 
for  the  reader  to  recall  more  particularly  to  his  memory 
the  spirit  of  those  times.  Early  in  1809  the  people  of 
Boston,  in  town-meeting  assembled,  in  a  memorial  to 


THE   WHIG    PAETY.  105 

their  own  legislature,  prayed  the  interposition  of  that 
body  for  relief  from  what  was  styled  an  "  unconstitu- 
tional measure  of  the  general  government."  It  was 
not  probably  a  personal  liberty  bill  then  contemplated 
by  the  memorialists,  but  a  bill  to  free  them  from  all 
restraints  in  their  pursuit  of  happiness.  During  the 
pendency  of  the  embargo  through  the  year  1808,  groat 
intemperance  of  feeling  was  manifested  in  the  New 
England  States.  It  was  thought,  at  home  and  abroad, 
that  the  country  was  verging  to  a  separation,  as  the 
Northern  States  charged  the  Southern  ones  with  being 
the  enemies  of  their  prosperity.  For  instance,  as  a 
specimen  of  the  expressions  of  Northern  people  upon 
the  subject,  the  Boston  Repertory  said  :  "  We  know,  if 
the  embargo  be  not  removed,  our  citizens  will  ere  long 
set  it  at  defiance.  It  behooves  us  to  speak  ;  for  strike 
we  must,  if  speaking  does  not  answer/7  Mr.  Hill- 
house,  a  United  States  senator,  in  a  speech  upon  the 
subject,  said:  "In  my  mind  the  present  crisis  excites 
the  most  serious  apprehension.  A  storm  seems  to  be 
gathering,  which  portends,  riot  a  tempest  on  the  ocean, 
but  domestic  convulsions  !  However  painful  the  task, 
a  sense  of  duty  calls  upon  me  to  raise  my  voice  against 
the  bill.  I  feel  myself  bound  ii\  conscience  to  declare, 
lest  the  blood  of  those  who  shall  fall  in  the  execution  of 
this  measure  may  lie  on  my  head,  that  I  consider  this  to 
be  an  act  which  directs  a  mortal  blow  at  the  liberties 
of  my  country  ;  an  act  containing  unconstitutional  pro- 
visions, to  which  the  people  are  not  bound  to  submit, 
and  to  which,  in  my  opinion,  they  will  not  submit.'7 

The  Boston  Gentinel,  of  September,  1808,  said:  "This 
perpetual  embargo  being  unconstitutional,  every  man 
will  perceive  that  he  is  not  bound  to  regard  it.  If  the 


106  A   HISTORY   OF 

petitions  do  not  produce  a  removal  of  the  embargo,  the 
people  ought  immediately  to  assume  a  higher  tone.  The 
State  of  Massachusetts  has  a  duty  to  assume.  This 
state  is  still  sovereign  and  independent."  The  Boston 
Gazette,  of  the  same  period,  said  :  "  It  is  better  to  suffer 
the  amputation  of  a  limb,  than  to  lose  the  whole  body. 
We  must  prepare  for  the  operation.  Wherefore,  then, 
is  New  England  asleep  ?  Wherefore  does  she  submit 
to  the  oppression  of  enemies  in  the  South  ?  Have  we 
no  Moses,  who  is  inspired  by  the  God  of  our  fathers, 
and  will  lead  us  out  of  Egypt  ?  " 

But  the  mission  of  a  British  emissary,  John  Henry, 
will  perhaps  show,  as  well  as  the  above  extracts,  the 
dangerous  point  to  which  party  prejudices  had  spurred 
many  Northern  people.  The  embargo  had  produced 
great  suffering  in  England,  and  was  the  first  blow,  after 
the  peace  of  783,  that  had  had  any  tendency  to  bring 
that  overbearing  power  to  her  senses.  The  American 
trade  was  a  vital  spot  in  the  British  system.  Unfortu- 
nately for  Britain,  she  was  dependent  on  the  United 
States,  and  was  taught,  by  the  struggles  ending  with 
the  last  war,  that  she  had  everything  to  lose,  and  noth- 
ing to  gain,  by  ruptures  with  this  country.  The  embargo 
impaired  her  revenues,  shut  her  manufactories,  and 
threw  thousands  of  her  people  out  of  employ,  a  charge 
upon  the  kingdom  as  paupers.  It  was  then  she  at- 
tempted, and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  with  success, 
to  carry  on  trade  with  the  American  people  in  defiance 
of  the  laws,  and  even  resorted  to  an  open  encourage- 
ment of  smuggling  ;  but,  despite  all  such  efforts,  she 
found  that  American  trade  was  a  consideration  that  of 
itself  would  command  a  respect  for  American  rights. 
Impressed  with  this  fact,  early  in  1809,  Mr.  Erskine  was 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  107 

sent  over  with  powers  to  arrange  matters  with  Mr. 
Madison's  administration,  on  a  satisfactory  basis.  Mr. 
Erskine  arrived  at  the  seat  of  government  not  many 
days  after  Mr.  Madison's  inauguration,  approached  his 
cabinet  with  old-fashioned,  straight-forward  English 
professions  of  good-will  and  honesty,  and  a  settlement 
of  the  difficulties  then  pending  was  at  once  agreed  upon. 
The  basis  for  a  treaty  was  settled  on  the  17th  of  April, 
1809.  Trade  with  England  was  to  be  restored,  and 
she  was  to  restore  to  freedom  the  Americans  taken 
from  the  Chesapeake,  make  satisfaction  for  that  outrage, 
and  rescind  her  orders  in  council  of  1801.  The  entire 
cordiality  with  which  Mr.  Madison  met  the  British  over- 
tures took  the  Federalists  by  surprise,  as  they  had 
supposed  his  administration  was  to  be  but  a  bureau  of 
the  French  emperor's  government,  and  subject  to  the 
imperial  will.  The  Federal  and  Republican  parties  were 
both  too  jealous  of  each  other,  and  scarcely  ever  did 
each  other  justice.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  success 
of  the  Erskine  negotiation,  the  violent  sectional  demon- 
strations of  New  England  in  1808  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  British  ;  and,  at  the  same  time  that  Mr. 
Erskine  was  despatched  to  the  seat  of  the  United  States 
government,  Governor-General  Craig,  of  Canada,  sent 
into  New  England  an  emissary,  by  the  name  of  John 
Henry,  to  make  observations,  and  report  the  prospects, 
in  case  the  American  foreign  difficulties  should  be  con- 
tinued, of  a  division  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Henry  went  first 
to  Burlington,  Vermont,  then  to  Windsor,  and  passed 
through  New  Hampshire  to  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  remained  some  two  or  three  months.  From 
these  places  he  transmitted  to  his  employer,  the  Gov- 
ernor-General of  Canada,  twelve  despatches,  in  which  he 
10* 


108  A    HISTORY    OF 

pretended  to  set  forth  truly  the  political  situation  of 
New  England,  the  state  of  her  feelings  as  to  the  national 
government,  and  the  part  she  would  act  in  event  of  a 
war  with  England.  From  Burlington,  February  14th, 
1809,  he  wrote  :  "  I  learn  that  the  governor  of  this  state 
is  now  visiting  the  towns  in  the  northern  section  of  it, 
and  makes  no  secret  of  his  determination,  as  commarider- 
in-chief  of  the  militia,  to  refuse  obedience  to  any  com- 
mand from  the  general  government  which  can  tend  to 
interrupt  the  good  understanding  that  prevails  between 
the  citizens  of  Vermont  and  his  majesty's  subjects  in 
Canada.  It  is  further  intimated  that,  in  case  of  a  war, 
he  will  use  his  influence  to  preserve  this  state  neutral, 
and  resist,  with  all  the  force  he  can  command,  any 
attempt  to  make  it  a  party.  I  need  not  add  that,  if 
these  resolutions  are  carried  into  effect,  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont may  be  considered  as  an  ally  of  Great  Britain." 
However,  when  Mr.  Henry  reached  the  eastern  side  of 
the  state,  where  there  were  more  Democrats,  his  opinion, 
as  expressed  above,  was  somewhat  modified.  His  first 
despatch  from  Boston  was  under  date  of  March  fifth.  A 
few  extracts  from  his  various  letters  will  show  their 
general  tenor  and  scope.  In  that  of  March  thirteenth, 
from  Boston,  he  said:  "You  will  perceive,  from  the 
accounts  that  will  reach  you  in  the  public  papers,  that 
the  Federalists  of  the  Northern  States  have  succeeded  in 
making  the  Congress  believe  that,  with  such  an  opposi- 
tion as  they  would  make  to  the  general  government,  a 
war  must  be  confined  to  their  own  territory,  and  might 
be  even  too  much  for  that  government  to  sustain.  *  *  * 
To  bring  about  a  separation  of  the  states,  under  distinct 
and  independent  governments,  is  an  affair  of  more  uncer- 
tainty, and,  however  desirable,  cannot  be  effected  but  by 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  109 

a  series  of  acts,  and  a  long-continued  policy  tending  to 
irritate  the  Southern  and  conciliate  the  Northern  people. 
The  former  are  an  agricultural,  and  the  latter  a  commercial 
people.  The  mode  of  cherishing  and  depressing  either 
is  too  obvious  to  require  illustration.  This,  I  am  aware, 
is  an  object  of  much  interest  in  Great  Britain,  as  it 
would  forever  secure  the  integrity  of  his  majesty's  pos- 
sessions on  this  continent,  and  make  the  two  govern- 
ments, or  whatever  number  the  present  confederacy 
might  form  into,  as  useful  and  as  much  subject  to  the 
influence  of  Great  Britain  as  her  colonies  can  be  ren- 
dered.7' In  his  other  letter,  from  the  same  place,  Mr. 
Henry,  among  other  things,  said  :  "It  should  be  the  pecu- 
liar care  of  Great  Britain  to  foster  divisions  betiveen  the 
North  and  South,  and,  by  succeeding  in  this,  she  may 
carry  into  effect  her  own  projects  in  Europe,  with  a 
total  disregard  of  the  resentments  of  the  Democrats  in 
this  country.'7  *  *  *  "A  war  would  produce  an 
incurable  alienation  of  the  Eastern  States,  and  bring  the 
whole  country  in  subordination  to  the  interests  of  Eng- 
land, whose  navy  would  prescribe  and  enforce  the  terms 
upon  which  the  commercial  states  should  carry,  and  the 
agricultural  states  export,  their  surplus  produce.  All 
this  is  as  well  known  to  the  Democrats  as  to  the  other 
party ;  therefore  they  will  avoid  a  war,  at  least  until  the 
whole  nation  is  unanimous  for  it.  Still,  when  we  con- 
sider of  what  materials  the  government  is  formed,  it  is 
impossible  to  speak  with  any  certainty  of  their  measures.77 
After  the  Erskine  negotiation,  under  date  of  May  twen- 
ty-fifth, he  wrote  :  "  The  unexpected  change  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  feelings  of  political  men  in  this  coun- 
try, in  consequence  of  Mr.  Madison7s  prompt  acceptance 
of  the  friendly  proposals  of  Great  Britain,  has  caused  a 


110  A   HISTORY    OF 

temporary  suspension  of  the  conflict  of  parties.  *  *  * 
I  beg  leave  to  suggest  that,  in  the  present  state  of 
things  in  this  country,  my  presence  can  contribute  very 
little  to  the  interests  of  Great  Britain.  If  Mr.  Erskine 
be  sanctioned,  in  all  he  has  conceded,  by  his  majesty's 
ministers,  it  is  unnecessary  for  me,  as  indeed  it  would 
be  unavailing,  to  make  any  attempt  to  carry  into  effect 
the  original  purposes  of  my  mission." 

The  papers  of  Mr.  Henry  were  transmitted  to  the 
British  cabinet  about  the  same  time  that  the  Erskine 
treaty  was  sent  forward,  and  the  result  was  that  the 
British  government  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty,  and 
alleged  that  Mr.  Erskine  had  exceeded  his  instructions ! 
The  cause  of  the  rejection  of  the  Erskine  treaty  was  at 
the  time  incomprehensible  to  Americans.  The  Federal- 
ists concluded  that  Mr.  Erskine  had  really  transcended 
his  authority,  and  not  a  few  of  them  condemned  Mr. 
Madison  severely  for  entering  into  a  treaty  that,  on  its 
face,  ought  to  have  apprized  him  that  the  minister  could 
not  have  been  acting  within  the  scope  of  his  authority ! 
But,  as  Mr.  Henry  regarded  his  mission  not  a  very  hon- 
orable one,  he  claimed  of  his  government  more  than 
ordinary  compensation.  As  the  ministry  did  not  readily 
accede  to  his  demands,  he  got  into  a  passion,  and,  for  a 
liberal  compensation,  placed  all  his  papers,  including  his 
correspondence  with  members  of  the  British  cabinet, 
in  the  hands  of  our  government,  and  they  were  laid 
before  Congress,  March,  1812,  and  published  and  cir- 
culated in  the  country.  In  those  days  the  Henry  papers 
were  used  by  many  Democrats  to  show  that  the  Federal 
party  was  a  disunion  party  ;  but  that  could  never  have 
been  justly  said  of  it.  The  most  that  reasonable  oppo- 
nents could  say  in  the  matter,  would  be  that,  as  dis- 


THE    WHIG    PARTY.  Ill 

closed  by  the  papers,  sectional  prejudices  of  so  serious 
a  character  were  maturing,  as  finally  to  lead  to  an  irrec- 
oncilable alienation  of  the  Northern  from  the  Southern 
portion  of  the  country.  Happily  for  our  country,  sub- 
sequent events  soon  extirpated  the  causes  of  disaffection 
growing  out  of  our  foreign  relations,  although  the  repu- 
diation of  the  Erskine  arrangement  again  plunged  us 
into  difficulties,  and  revived  party  animosities  with 
renewed  vigor.  But  the  principal  reason  for  alluding 
to  the  Henry  mission  here  is  to  show  the  policy  of 
Britain,  at  that  time,  with  regard  to  this  country,  and 
to  exhibit  what  her  feelings  and  views  then  were, 
and,  from  the  nature  of  things,  always  must  be,  to- 
wards us. 

The  non-intercourse  act  expired  in  May,  1810,  when 
our  government  made  propositions  to  both  of  the  belli- 
gerents, that  if  either  would  revoke  its  hostile  edicts 
that  act  should  be  revived  and  enforced  against  the 
other.  Accordingly,  the  French  minister  of  state  in- 
formed the  American  envoy  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees  were  revoked,  to  take  effect  from  the  first  day 
of  the  succeeding  November,  and  proclamation  was 
made  by  President  Madison  accordingly.  As  Great 
Britain  had  professed  a  willingness  to  repeal  her  orders 
whenever  France  should  revoke  her  decrees,  she  was 
now  called  upon  to  fulfil  her  promise  ;  but,  for  various 
reasons  discussed  in  the  histories  of  those  times,  she 
refused,  and  continued  to  prey  on  the  American  com- 
merce. She  stationed  ships  of  war  before  the  principal 
harbors  of  the  United  States,  to  board  and  search  the 
American  merchantmen  departing  or  returning,  and 
many  of  them  were  sent  off  to  British  ports  as  legal 
prizes.  Many  impressments  were  made,  and  the  con- 


112  A   HISTORY    OP 

tempt  manifested  by  British  naval  commanders,  on  all 
occasions,  for  the  republican  flag,  was,  perhaps,  the 
natural  result  of  the  long-continued  patience  with 
which  this  country  had  submitted  to  aggression  and 
insult. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  113 


CHAPTER    XI. 

ENGLAND  COOPERATED  WITH  NEW  ENGLAND  TO  RENDER  THE  ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF  THE  REPUBLICANS  ODIOUS. ENORMOUS  LOSSES  TO  AMER- 
ICAN COMMERCE.  WAR  DECLARED  JUNE  18,  1812. COURSE  OP  THE 

FEDERALISTS.  MEN      OF     THE     TWELFTH     CONGRESS.  —  CRAWFORD, 

CALHOUN,  RANDOLPH,  CLAY,  ETC. 

THE  Americans  had  submitted  to  the  aggressions  of 
Britain,  and  the  outrages  of  France,  until  endurance 
ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  and  until  their  submission  began 
to  cover  the  country  with  dishonor.  Since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  obnoxious  orders  in  council,  Great 
Britain  had  captured  nearly  a  thousand  American  mer- 
chant vessels,  with  their  valuable  cargoes,  and  had 
impressed  thousands  of  our  seamen.  The  injury  inflicted 
upon  our  commerce  was  immense.  The  severest  losses 
fell  upon  the  commercial  part  of  the  country  ;  but,  as 
the  course  taken  by  England  was  fast  rendering  the 
administration  odious,  the  North  opposed  all  retaliatory 
measures  towards  that  power  ;  and,  from  what  has  been 
shown,  it  appears  that  the  government  saw  that,  if  war 
should  be  resorted  to,  it  would  have  to  be  carried  on  in 
opposition  to  Northern  sentiment,  and  perhaps  at  the 
peril  of  the  Union.  Like  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Madison 
was  disinclined  to  war.  Everything  in  his  power  was 
done  to  obviate  a  resort  to  a  measure  which  seemed 
destined  to  encounter  the  fiercest  opposition  of  a  large, 
powerful,  and  respectable  portion  of  the  country. 
England  saw  the  perplexity  of  the  Democratic  adminis- 


114  A   HISTOEY   OF 

tration,  and  detached  to  our  coasts  as  many  vessels-of- 
war  as  she  could  possibly  spare,  on  purpose  to  annoy 
and  harass  our  trade,  and  goad  our  government  to  a 
step  which  should  prove  its  ruin. 

Early  in  November,  1811,  Congress  was  assembled, 
and  Mr.  Madison,  in  a  brief  message,  set  forth  the  state 
of  our  difficulties  with  England  and  France,  and  called 
the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  some  measures,  pre- 
paratory to  a  war,  but  not  absolutely  implying  its  ne- 
cessity. Congress  continued  in  session  until  the  6th 
day  of  July,  1812,  and,  on  the  18th  day  of  June,  passed 
the  act  declaring  war  with  Great  Britain.  Many  other 
acts  touching  the  navy,  army,  &c.,  were  also  passed 
during  the  session ;  but  the  act  declaring  war  was  the 
one  that  excited  the  greatest  party  feeling.  Most  of  the 
preparatory  measures,  as  they  were  called,  —  measures 
increasing  the  navy  and  army,  and  placing  the  country 
in  a  warlike  attitude,  —  were  voted  for  by  members  of  all 
parties.  For  this,  the  Federalists  were  afterwards  ac- 
cused of  duplicity.  It  was  said  that  the  Federalists  did 
not  believe  that  the  Democrats  dared  venture  on  a  war 
with  England,  and  that  for  a  long  time  they  were  ac- 
customed to  taunt  the  administration  party  with 
cowardice  and  pusillanimity.  Josiah  Quincy,  a  member 
from  Massachusetts,  it  is  reported,  said  that  the  Dem- 
ocrats "  could  not  be  kicked  into  war."  Hence,  it 
was  charged  against  the  Federalists  in  Congress  that 
they  sustained  all  the  preparatory  measures,  under 
expectation  that  the  war  would  not  be.  declared,  and 
that  thus  additional  odium  would  fall  upon  the  adminis- 
tration party.  But  perhaps  fairness  would  concede 
that  one  opposed  to  the  act  of  war,  under  the  circum- 
stances, might  deem  it  prudent  to  place  the  country 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  115 

in  a  position  more  likely  to  command  the  respect  of 
other  nations. 

The  Twelfth  Congress  contained  many  able  men. 
Twenty  years  had  wrought  quite  a  change  in  the  aspects 
of  the  two  parties  in  Congress.  If  in  the  earlier  Con- 
gresses the  Federal  party  contained  the  most  talent,  in  the 
Twelfth  Congress  the  advantage,  on  the  score  of  ability, 
was  decidedly  with  the  Republicans.  Messrs.  Lloyd  of 
Massachusetts,  Giles  of  Virginia,  and  Crawford  of 
Georgia,  were  prominent  men  in  the  Senate,  the  first  of 
whom  was  Federal,  and  the  two  last  were  Republicans. 
William  H.  Crawford  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  but  was 
removed  to  Georgia  when  quite  a  child.  He  was  born 
to  poverty,  and  arose  in  the  world  by  his  energies,  and 
by  the  power  of  his  talents.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1198,  and  in  1803  was  elected  to  the  Georgia 
Legislature.  He  became  a  United  States  senator  in 
1807,  which  position  he  occupied  until  appointed  by 
Madison  Minister  to  France  in  1813.  On  his  return 
from  France,  he  was  for  a  short  time  Secretary  of  War, 
and  in  181 7  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
which  place  he  held  during  Mr.  Monroe's  administra- 
tion. He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  soundest  states- 
men of  his  time,  and  in  1824  was  supported  by  a  large 
party  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.  Mr.  Crawford 
was  a  man  of  extraordinary  height  and  size,  and  said  to 
have  been  in  manner  awkward  and  ungraceful.  His 
integrity  and  high  moral  character,  his  firmness,  decision 
and  superior  judgment,  accompanied  with  boldness, 
inspired  respect  and  confidence.  He  was  a  Republican, 
and  in  favor  of  the  war  measure.  In  fact,  he  was  op- 
posed to  the  embargo,  and  in  favor  of  an  immediate 
resort  to  war,  on  occasion  of  England's  first  outrages 
11 


116  A   HISTORY   OP 

upon  our  commerce.  John  C.  Calhoun  was,  during  the 
Twelfth  Congress,  a  member  of  the  lower  house,  and, 
as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  foreign  affairs,  made 
an  able  report,  setting  forth  a  history  of  British  ag- 
gressions and  insolence,  and  recommended  an  appeal  to 
arms.  Mr.  Calhoun's  subsequent  life  is  well  known. 
Langdon  Cheeves  and  William  Lowndes  were  two  mem- 
bers of  the  House  from  South  Carolina,  of  much  more 
than  ordinary  ability.  They,  as  well  as  the  most  of  the 
Southern  members,  were  in  favor  of  war  with  England, 
and  their  speeches  on  record  in  the  proceedings  of 
Congress  are  lasting  memorials  of  their  statesmanship 
and  patriotism.  It  will  be  recollected  that  Felix 
Grundy,  of  Tennessee,  was  also  a  Republican  member  of 
the  House  during  that  Congress,  as  well  as  the  talented 
Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina,  the  singular  John 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  the  valorous  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
of  Tecumseh  memory,  of  Kentucky,  and  likewise  the 
brilliant  Henry  Clay,  of  the  last-mentioned  state. 
However,  although  Randolph  commenced  and  closed  life 
as  a  Democrat,  he  opposed  the  restrictive  measures  of 
Jefferson,  and  the  war  measure  of  Madison,  with  fanat- 
ical energy.  He  was  at  the  time  about  forty  years 
of  age,  having  been  born  in  1713.  He  entered  Congress 
in  1*799,  and,  saving  a  short  interval  while  he  occupied 
a  place  in  the  Senate,  he  continued  a  member  of  the 
House  thirty  years.  For  energy,  for  wit,  for  sarcasm, 
for  invective,  perhaps  the  House  has  never  had  his 
equal.  He  was  a  man  of  peculiar  notions  and  feelings, 
and  was  as  inaccessible,  saving  on  his  "right  side/7  as 
a  porcupine.  When  enlisted,  his  sympathies  were  per- 
haps as  remarkable  as  his  prejudices.  His  speeches 
always  commanded  attention,  and  were  frequently 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  117 

listened  to  with  deep  interest.  He  was  a  man  of  much 
reading,  great  originality  of  thought  and  expression, 
and  entirely  sui  generis  in  manner  and  style.  Although 
possessing  great  energy,  much  information,  and  re- 
markable vigor  of  intellect,  his  judgment  was  never 
considered  reliable.  He  lacked  that  balance  of  mind, 
and  those  commanding  reasoning  organs,  which  bestow 
upon  their  possessor  a  sound  judgment. 

Mr.  Eandolph  continued  a  warm  supporter  of  Jeffer- 
son, until  the  introduction  of  a  non-intercourse  resolu- 
tion in  1806  ;  from  which  period,  until  after  the  settle- 
ment of  our  foreign  difficulties,  he  opposed  the  principal 
measures  of  the  administration.  He  seemed  almost  a 
monomaniac  in  regard  to  England.  France  and  the 
French  emperor  he  looked  upon  with  the  impatience  of 
the  deepest  hatred  ;  and  England  he  admired  as  the 
champion  of  civilization.  When  war  was  talked  of, 
his  indignation  at  the  mention  of  such  a  measure  was 
not  exceeded  by  that  of  Mr.  Quincy.  The  power  of 
Britain,  with  her  thousand  ships-of-war,  was  paraded 
before  congressional  audiences  in  terrible  contrast  with 
America  and  some  ten  or  dozen  ill-appointed  vessels. 
The  fact,  too,  that  the  United  States  had  been  for  years 
at  peace,  and  had  no  army,  no  discipline,  no  material  at 
hand,  while  England  had  navies,  disciplined  and  veteran 
armies,  and  all  the  appliances  of  war  at  her  ready  com- 
mand, was  enlarged  upon,  and  dreadful  consequences 
predicted  in  case  this  country  should  presume  to  em- 
bark in  a  war  with  the  mistress  of  the  ocean. 

That  the  United  States,  at  that  period,  was  in  an 
embarrassed  and  critical  situation,  and  needed  wise  and 
patriotic  counsels,  and  a  firm  and  resolute  hand,  to  direct 
her,  is  very  evident.  Mr.  Madison  was  a  fine  civilian, 


118  A  HISTORY  OF 

but  involuntarily  shuddered  at  the  idea,  under  the  ad- 
verse state  of  things  then  existing,  of  involving  his 
country  in  a  conflict  with  England.  The  members  of  his 
cabinet  felt  the  necessity  of  some  bold  movement,  and 
his  supporters,  in  both  houses,  saw  that  a  war  was 
necessary,  and  that  there  could  be  no  honorable  escape. 
Fortunately  there  was  in  the  Congress  of  1811  and  '12  a 
young  statesman  whose  spirit  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
Henry  Clay,  then  about  thirty-four  years  of  age,  was  a 
member  of  the  House.  His  superiority  was  at  once  re- 
cognized, and  instinctively  felt  by  all ;  the  speaker's  chair 
was  accorded  to  him.  Mr.  Clay  has  been  too  well  known 
throughout  the  world,  since  those  days,  to  render  any 
account  of  him  here  necessary.  He  was  a  rare  man  ; 
he  had  a  rare  mission  ;  and  his  life  and  services  have 
been  of  inestimable  importance  to  his  country.  He 
was  born  during  the  Revolution  —  in  IT 77  — a  year  of 
stirring  events  in  that  great  drama.  In  "77  were  fought 
the  battles  of  Princeton,  Bennington,  Brandywine, 
Germantown,  Stillwater  and  Saratoga ;  and  a  child  born 
and  cradled  amidst  such  scenes  should  be  expected  to 
acquire  some  of  the  spirit  peculiar  to  them.  But  Henry 
Clay  was  the  poor  son  of  a  poor  Virginia  widow,  draw- 
ing his  life  from  the  humblest  origin.  His  story  is  told 
in  a  word.  He  was  indebted  to  his  genius  and  high 
spirit  for  all.  In  childhood,  we  see  him  neglected,  in 
ragged  garments  riding  to  mill  on  horseback,  and  hear 
applied  to  him,  as  characteristic  of  all  that  was  observed 
in  regard  to  him,  the  title  of  "  The  Mill-boy  of  the 
Slashes.7'  At  an  early  age,  on  the  marriage  of  his 
widowed  mother,  the  humble  home,  in  the  care  of  which 
he  had  done  his  juvenile  part,  was  removed  from  him, 
and  he  entered  the  great  world  to  pursue  his  destiny. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  119 

He  became  a  clerk  in  a  store  ;  then  an  amanuensis  for  a 
judge  ;  and  then  a  clerk  and  student  in  a  law-office. 
At  twenty,  or  thereabouts,  we  see  him,  destitute,  friend- 
less, and  entirely  unknown,  wending  his  way  into  the 
then  new  State  of  Kentucky,  and  opening  a  law-office  at 
Lexington.  An  ambitious  and  noble  soul,  an  aspiring 
genius,  a  high-toned  and  chivalrous  spirit,  an  open  and 
generous  heart,  we  begin  to  sympathize  with  him,  and 
thank  Heaven  that  some  good  angel  guided  his  steps 
to  the  kindly  and  magnanimous  borders  of  old  Kentucky. 
On  seeing  him  on  Kentucky  ground,  our  apprehensions 
for  his  welfare  vanish,  for  in  the  care  of  Kentuckians, 
we  know  he  is  safe. 

But,  if  the  reader  will  still  pursue  the  vision,  he  will 
see  the  powers  of  young  Harry  unfolding,  and  behold 
Kentucky  taking  him  to  her  heart,  where  he  will  ever 
rest.  Egypt  may  forget  her  kings,  and  the  dust  of 
mummied  monarchs  may  be  scattered  from  decaying 
pryramids  ;  but  Kentucky  will  never  cease  to  hold  the 
name  of  her  beloved  Clay  in  fond  remembrance.  With 
no  education  but  that  drawn  from  nature,  and  inter- 
course with  others,  it  was  surprising  to  behold  with 
what  marvellous  effect  Henry  Clay  could  wield  the 
minds  and  affections  of  men.  He  was  tall,  and  pos- 
sessed a  commanding  figure.  Although  his  features  were 
not  the  most  comely,  he  had  an  eye  that  ever  spoke 
with  a  power  scarcely  excelled  by  a  thrilling  and  most 
musical  voice.  When  excited,  his  whole  soul  went  forth 
in  looks,  voice  and  action ;  and  his  emotions  were  so 
correct  and  natural  that  he  was  not  human  that  could 
resist  them.  He  was  a  natural  orator.  He  was  no 
hair-splitting  logician ;  no  dresser  up  of  wordy  ha- 
rangues ;  no  school  rhetorician  ;  but  to  him  words  were 
11* 


120  A   HISTORY   OF 

things,  and  his  ideas  were  stirring  realities,  inspired  by 
the  senses  rather  than  by  a  refined  imagination.  His 
knowledge  of  men  was  easily  acquired,  and  extraordi- 
nary. No  man  was  sufficiently  dark  and  subtle  to  hide 
his  motives  under  a  guise  that  the  eagle  eye  of  Clay 
could  not  penetrate.  He  could  read  human  character 
at  a  glance  ;  and,  as  he  read,  forth  went,  in  speech  and 
action,  the  treasure  of  his  discoveries.  As  no  man 
could  wear  a  mask  before  him,  he  wore  none  himself. 
He  had  no  concealments,  no  tortuous  intrigues,  no 
finesse  ;  truth  and  right  were  the  great  passions  of  his 
soul,  and  the  convictions  of  conscience  were  at  all  times, 
in  all  places,  and  under  all  circumstances,  his  invariable 
compass  and  guide.  Hence  we  see  him  apparently  the 
creature  of  impulse.  As  new  facts  adduced  new  ideas  of 
policy,  we  see  him  pursuing  a  new  course  ;  and  we 
never  see  him  the  slave  of  opinions.  So  far  from  ever 
being  the  sycophant  of  popular  feelings,  he  was  often 
seen  bidding  them  a  haughty  defiance,  and  paying  a 
seemingly  supercilious  disregard  to  the  special  instruc- 
tions of  the  Legislature  on  whose  will  he  was  dependent 
for  his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate.  His  love  of 
country  was  enthusiastic  and  boundless.  Her  honor 
and  interest  were  his  study  from  an  early  age.  It  was 
singular,  indeed,  that  the  great  interests  of  this  nation 
should  have  been  grasped  so  completely  by  so  young  a 
mind.  Undisciplined  in  the  schools  as  he  was,  at  his 
first  entrance  upon  public  life,  his  views,  for  justness, 
maturity,  and  practicability,  were  in  advance  of  those  of 
the  first  statesmen  of  the  day.  Jefferson  and  Madison, 
older  arid  more  experienced  public  men  than  Clay,  were, 
in  regard  to  all  the  great  interests  of  the  country  at  that 
time,  scarcely  his  superiors,  if  his  equals.  Under  the 


THE  WHIG    PARTY.  121 

auspices  of  Clay's  public  labors,  the  impracticable 
domestic  and  foreign  policy  of  Jefferson  was  exploded ; 
and  it  was  at  least  curious  to  see  the  young  speaker  of 
the  Twelfth  Congress,  by  the  proper  arrangement  of  the 
committees,  and  by  his  spirit-stirring  eloquence,  forcing 
the  war  measure  upon  Mr.  Madison.  Beyond  all  cavil, 
Clay  was  the  master-spirit  of  that  Congress ;  and  the 
justice  of  his  views  and  course  nobody  now  doubts, 
although  at  the  time  they  cost  him  much  angry  abuse. 


122  A   HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTEK    XII. 

FEDERAL  ASCENDENCY.  IN  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  YORK. — CONDUCT  OP 
THE  FEDERALISTS.  —  PROSECUTION  OF  THE  WAR  EMBARRASSED  BY 
THEM.  —  HARTFORD  CONVENTION.  —  REVERSES  AT  DETROIT  AND  ON 
THE  CANADIAN  FRONTIER.  —  THIRTEENTH  CONGRESS.  —  FACTIOUSNESS 
OF  THE  FEDERALISTS.  —  HENRY  CLAY'S  CASTIGATION  OF  JOSIAH 
QUINCY. — WAR  CONTINUED. — THE  NORTHERN  PULPIT. — TRIUMPH 

OF  AMERICAN    ARMS,    AND    THE    GLORY  OF   OUR   NAVAL  TRIUMPHS. 

PEACE   OF     1814.  —  AMERICAN    HONOR    VINDICATED,    AND   HER     NAME 
RESPECTED  THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD. 

THE  declaration  of  war  gave  the  Federalists  the  ascend- 
ency in  New  England,  and  New  York  had  become  op- 
posed to  the  administration.  The  election  of  President 
took  place  in  1812,  and  the  Federalists,  with  many  anti- 
war Republicans,  selected  Clinton  as  a  peace  candidate, 
to  run  against  Mr.  Madison.  Mr.  Madison,  however, 
was  reflected,  and  the  war,  amid  unexampled  opposition, 
was  waged  with  vigor.  The  history  of  that  war  is  too 
well  known  to  need  recital  here.  Its  commencement 
was  discouraging.  The  surrender  of  Hull,  at  Detroit, 
early  in  the  campaign,  and  the  ill-success  of  our  troops 
upon  the  Canadian  borders,  excited  gloomy  apprehen- 
sions amongst  Republicans,  and  gave  encouragement 
to  the  Federalists.  The  Federalists  were  so  blinded  by 
passion  as  actually  to  exult  in  British  victories,  and  ex- 
press chagrin  at  the  triumph  of  American  arms.  Even 
the  Massachusetts  Senate,  on  the  motion  of  Josiah 
Quincy,  resolved,  substantially,  that  it  was  improper  for 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  123 

a  religious  people  to  exult  at  victories  achieved  in  a 
war  not  strictly  defensive.  The  North  threw  many  im- 
pediments in  the  way  of  the  general  government,  to 
obstruct  its  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  refused  to  place  the  state  militia  at  the 
disposal  of  the  United  States  officers,  and  New  England 
continued  her  factious  opposition  to  the  administration 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  The  celebrated  Hartford 
Convention,  however,  held  in  December,  1814,  was  the 
most  daring  and  dangerous  measure  of  the  Federalists, 
and  was  called  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature.  The  convention  was  in  session  a  fortnight ; 
but,  as  their  discussions  were  conducted  with  closed 
doors,  the  exact  temper  of  that  body,  and  the  precise 
ultimate  object  of  its  leaders,  can  only  be  imagined. 
There  is  no  person,  at  the  present  day,  of  any  party, 
that  approves  of  the  course  of  the  Federalists  during 
the  last  war ;  but,  although  such  a  convention  as  that 
of  Hartford  was  dangerous  and  highly  improper  under 
the  circumstances,  it  should  not  be  charged  upon  the 
conventiomstH-f,  without  full  proof,  that  their  real  object 
was  disunion.  Although  that  body  recommended  radi- 
cal changes  of  the  United  States  Constitution, —  changes 
abrogating  almost  all  its  compromises  between  the  North 
and  South,  and  fundamentally  altering  it  in  many  re- 
spects,—  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  recommendation 
was  to  be  considered  a  prelude  to  a  revolution.  There 
were  many  men  in  the  North  who  ardently  desired  dis- 
union ;  but  that  the  Hartford  Convention  was  composed 
of  such,  was  stoutly  denied  by  the  Federalists  of  those 
days. 

On  declaring  war,  it  was  thought  expedient  by  gov- 
ernment  to  conquer  the  Canadas.     This   project  was 


124  A   HISTORY    OF 

violently  denounced  by  the  Federalists.  Learned  ha- 
rangues and  essays  were  delivered  to  the  people,  teach- 
ing them  that  government  had  no  constitutional  power 
to  force  them  to  march  out  of  the  limits  of  the  United 
States.  The  effects  of  such  addresses  were  sorely  felt 
upon  the  Canadian  frontier.  A  body  of  American  mili- 
tia under  General  Van  Rensselaer  passed  over  to  Queens- 
town,  and  in  defiance  of  General  Brock's  reinforcements, 
gained  and  held  the  British  fort.  General  Van  Rensselaer 
returned  for  the  rear  division  of  the  American  troops, 
who,  putting  themselves  upon  their  constitutional  rights, 
refused  to  cross  the  national  boundary.  The  British 
fort  received  another  reenforcement,  and,  of  the  thousand 
American  soldiers  who  had  crossed  into  Canada,  scarcely 
any  effected  their  escape.  A  desperate  and  bloody  con- 
flict ensued,  in  which  the  British  were  entirely  victori- 
ous, under  the  eyes  of  the  obstinate  militia.  The  affair 
of  Queenstown,  following  the  disgraceful  surrender  of 
Hull,  and  the  violent  opposition  of  a  large,  wealthy, 
and  influential  section  of  the  country,  rendered  the 
administration  of  the  government  by  th£  Republicans 
extremely  embarrassing.  In  the  midst  of  these  calam- 
ities and*  discouraging  circumstances,  the  Thirteenth 
Congress  assembled,  and  the  question  of  the  contin- 
uance .of  the  war  was  discussed  with  great  warmth  on 
both  sides.  The  repeal  of  her  orders  in  council  by 
Great  Britain  had  given  the  Federalists  a  show  of  reason 
for  insisting  that,  if  left  to  her  own  sense  of  right,  she 
would  render  the  United  States  justice.  No  Federalist 
was  more  violent  in  his  denunciations  of  the  administra- 
tion than  Josiah  Quincy  ;  but  the  day  of  Federal  power 
in  the  halls  of  the  National  Legislature  was  at  an  end. 
The  assuming  and  domineering  tone  of  that  son  of 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  125 

Massachusetts  was  properly  rebuked.  The  castigation 
given  him  by  the  thoroughly  aroused  and  indignant 
Henry  Clay  was  beyond  expression  severe.  That 
member  from  Massachusetts  must  have  experienced  sin- 
gular sensations  under  the  delivery  by  Clay  of  his  im- 
mortal speech  of  January  8th,  1813.  It  was  certainly 
curious  to  witness  such  a  masterly  vindication  of  the 
cause  of  New  England  commerce,  under  such  peculiar 
circumstances.  It  was  said  that  as  Mr.  Clay  dwelt 
upon  the  outrages  upon  American  commerce,  as  he 
portrayed  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  Massachusetts 
sailors,  as  he  pictured  their  capture,  impressment  into 
foreign  service,  and  the  indifference  manifested  towards 
their  rights  by  the  American  government,  —  there  was 
scarcely  an  eye  in  the  house  not  moistened  with  tears. 
And  the  compliment  paid  to  the  American  sailors  was 
well  deserved,  as  the  result  showed. 

But  in  New  England  the  war  was  regarded  by  a  large 
party  as  an  abomination.  The  pulpit  was  very  warm 
and  active  in  its  denunciation  of  it.  Many  divines,  and 
some  of  them  quite  eminent,  pointed  to  disunion  as 
necessary.  One  distinguished  clergyman  said:  "The 
Union  has  been  long  since  virtually  dissolved  ;  and  it  is 
full  time  that  this  part  of  the  disunited  states  should 
take  care  of  itself. "  Another  said :  ''If,  at  the  pres- 
ent moment,  no  symptoms  of  civil  war  appear,  they 
certainly  will  soon,  unless  the  courage  of  the  war-party 
should  fail  them."  And  another  said  :  "  The  Israelites 
became  weary  of  yielding  the  fruits  of  their  labor  to 
pamper  the  splendor  of  tyrants.  They  left  their  politi- 
cal woes.  They  separated.  Where  is  our  Moses  ? " 
Such  were  the  expressions  of  the  Gardners,  Osgoods, 
and  Parishes,  of  those  days,  and  indicate  what  might 


126  A   HISTORY    OP 

have  been  the  pulpit  at  large.  In  these  days  it  is  only 
the  political  sermons  of  our  Cheevers,  Beechers,  and 
Parkers,  that  find  their  way  into  print ;  but  other  divines, 
though  inferior  in  ability,  are  by  no  means  inferior  in 
zeal. 

Notwithstanding  the  discouraging  commencement  of 
the  war,  and  the  unfavorable  condition  of  things  for  its 
successful  prosecution,  it  was  conducted  with  brilliant 
and  useful  results,  and  terminated  by  an  honorable  peace 
on  the  twenty-fourth  December,  1814.  Before  this 
peace  was  concluded,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  fallen, 
and  England  became  at  peace  with  all  the  world  but  the 
United  States  ;  and,  when  the  treaty  was  signed,  some 
of  her  veterans  were  on  their  way,  under  Packenham,  to 
immortalize  Jackson  and  his  brave  soldiers,  who  en- 
countered them  at  New  Orleans  on  the  eighth  of  January, 
1815,  and  before,  of  course,  the  news  of  the  peace  had 
reached  America.  But,  notwithstanding  England  had 
become  disencumbered  from  European  contests,  and 
was  in  a  situation  to  give  the  United  States  her  undi- 
vided attention,  she  was  not  disposed  to  protract  the 
struggle  with  this  country.  The  eclat  with  which  she 
had  terminated  her  contest  with  France  enabled  her, 
without  a  sacrifice  of  credit,  to  treat  favorably  with  us, 
and  her  condition  and  true  interests  required  that  her 
controversy  with  the  United  States  should  cease.  She 
was  monstrously  in  debt ;  the  close  to  her  of  the  Amer- 
ican market  was  more  destructive  to  her  people  than 
sword  or  cannon  ;  and  the  longer  the  contest  continued, 
the  better  prepared  the  United  States  became  for  the 
war,  and  more  destructive  and  ruinous  it  became  to 
England.  For  the  little  time  it  continued  results  really 
astonishing  were  produced.  That  little  navy,  first  organ 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  127 

ized  in  1798  by  John  Adams,  under  the  fiercest  opposition 
of  Jeffersonian  republicanism,  and  afterwards  all  but 
annihilated  by  Jefferson,  during  his  administration,  was, 
as  a  necessity  of  this  war,  resuscitated,  not  by  Madi- 
son,, but  by  such  spirits  as  Cheeves,  Lowndes,  Calhoun, 
Crawford,  Clay,  Lloyd,  and  Quincy ;  and  in  two  short 
years,  by  the  unparalleled  success  of  its  encounters  with 
the  British  navy,  electrified  all  Europe.  The  check  for 
the  growing  monster  of  the  Isles  was  discovered.  Eng- 
land was  no  longer  the  undisputed  mistress  of  the  ocean. 
The  names  of  Lawrence,  Decatur,  Bainbridge,  Perry, 
McDoriough,  and  others  equally  brave,  were  born  with 
the  war  of  1812,  and  will  forever  adorn  the  American 
annals.  The  commanders  and  sailors  had  been  bred  in 
that  merchant  service  whose  wrongs  they  were  proud  to 
avenge ;  and,  since  that  war,  our  commerce  has  not  been 
molested,  nor  have  American  seamen  been  impressed 
or  insulted  by  the  domineering  mistress  of  the  ocean. 
From  being  the  degraded,  insulted  and  despised  nation 
of  herb-raising  Chinese,  "  striving  for  a  commerce 
that  she  could  not  protect,"  and  "vaunting  an  honor 
she  could  not  maintain,"  America  at  once  took  her  stand 
before  the  world  as  a  power  of  first-rate  magnitude; 
and  her  importance  in  the  events  of  coming  time  was  at 
once  recognized.  Upon  the  ocean  she  had  not  always 
been  triumphant,  but  had  always  achieved  renown. 
Her  defeats  were  glorious.  The  captives  and  slain  of  the 
fatal  Chesapeake  were  wept  by  the  enemy  on  English 
soil.  But  England  was  amazed,  and  the  world  aston- 
ished, at  the  brilliant  exploits  of  our  young  navy,  when 
it  frequently  gained  victories  over  superior  power  and 
discipline.  The  haughty  presumption  of  British  com- 
manders was  at  once  checked  ;  and,  from  being  the  most 
12 


128  A   HISTOEY   OF 

arrogant  and  insolent  of  mortals,  they  became  prudent 
and  respectful.  At  the  opening  of  the  war,  but  little 
regard  was  paid  to  the  presence  of  an  American  vessel- 
of-war ;  but  soon  the  feeling  was  changed,  and  a  chal- 
lenge would  not  produce  an  encounter  even  where  the 
advantage  was  on  the  British  side.  One  day,  England 
and  France  were  trampling  America  under  their  feet, 
rendering  her  an  object  of  pity  and  contempt  to  the 
world  ;  and  the  next,  she  was  an  object  of  dread  to  her 
enemies,  and  of  admiration  to  the  nations  of  Europe.  Mr. 
Crawford  was  in  Paris,  as  minister,  at  the  abdication  of 
Napoleon,  when  the  allied  powers  entered  that  city. 
The  respect  paid  to  the  stars  and  stripes  that  waved 
over  his  quarters,  by  the  various  representatives  of  the 
different  powers  of  Europe,  was  said  to  have  been  a 
matter  of  great  satisfaction  to  that  able  and  patriotic 
gentleman  ;  and  everywhere,  as  the  American  minister, 
he  was  treated  with  marked  consideration. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  129 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  FEDERAL  PARTY  ANNIHILATED,  BUT  THE  MEASURES  OF   THE  ANCIENT 

FEDERALISTS  REVIVED. THE  NAVY,  THE  BANK,  AND    THE   TARIFF. 

POLITICS  HERETOFORE  HAD  BEEN  BASED  ON  THE  FOREIGN  POLICY  OF 
THE  COUNTRY  ;  AFTER  THE  WAR,  TURNED  MORE  ON  DOMESTIC  POLI- 
CY. —  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

IT  is  with  nations  as  it  is  with  men  ;  their  prosperity 
is  oftentimes  more  the  result  of  fortune  than  the  achieve- 
ment of  wisdom.  We  have  but  to  cast  our  eyes  over 
the  history  of  any  state  to  discover  how  slightly  its  des- 
tiny has  been  shaped  by  human  intelligence.  The 
prominent  interests  of  America,  as  well  as  of  England, 
have  struggled  into  existence  without  the  cherishing 
hand  of  a  fostering  government.  It  is  true,  these  inter- 
ests, in  some  instances,  have  been  in  a  measure  protected 
and  encouraged,  after  their  prominence  rendered  their 
continuance  indispensable ;  but  in  the  germ  they  re- 
ceived no  sunshine-smiles  of  favor  to  promote  their 
growth.  "  With  how  little  wisdom  this  world  is  gov- 
erned !"  was  an  observation  of  Chancellor  Oxenstiern, 
and  its  truth  is  humiliating.  At  every  great  political 
event  we  are  reminded  of  the  saying,  "Man  proposes, 
God  disposes;"  and  how  near-sighted  do  man's  views 
and  calculations  always  turn  out  in  contrast  with  the 
results  of  Providence  !  The  American  Revolution  was 
commenced  to  resist  the  levy  of  an  illegal  tax,  with  no 
object,  but  to  avoid  that  levy,  in  view  ;  but  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  new  nation  upon  the  earth  was  the  result. 


130  A   HISTORY    OF 

The  war  of  1812  was  undertaken  to  emancipate  our 
commerce  from  the  shackles  of  British  assumption,  and 
resulted  in  an  entire  change  of  the  internal  and  external 
policy  of  our  country.  It  was  truly  said  to  be  our 
"  second  war  of  independence  ; "  and,  as  the  Revolution 
was  more  like  the  struggle  of  a  birth  than  of  a  war,  the 
war  of  1812  followed  as  the  natural  effort  attending  such 
natural  phenomena.  The  mother  country  did  not  recover 
from  the  first  labor  until  after  the  close  of  the  latter. 

The  war  of  1812  was  the  crisis  in  the  politics  of  the 
United  States.  It  was  the  extermination  of  the  latter- 
day  Federal  party,  but  the  inauguration  of  the  ancient 
Federal  politics.  As  the  Federal  party  became  extinct, 
original  Federal  ideas  revived.  Up  to  this  time  parties 
had  been  divided  principally  on  questions  of  foreign 
policy.  Questions  of  internal  policy  had  been  dormant 
until  the  passions  that  originally  gave  them  solution 
were  extinct ;  so  that,  when  the  country  was  no  longer 
embarrassed  with  views  as  to  external  relations,  and  do- 
mestic measures  came  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  poli- 
ticians, they  ceased  to  be  considered  as  very  binding 
party  tests.  The  establishment  of  a  national  bank, 
under  the  administration  of  Washington,  as  well  as  of 
a  navy,  under  Adams,  had  been  violently  opposed  by 
the  Republicans  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  school ;  but  the 
necessities  of  the  country,  as  made  apparent  by  the  last 
war  with  England,  taught  a  new  lesson  in  regard  to 
these  measures.  There  was  as  yet  a  lingering  remnant 
of  the  old  Jeffersonian  party  arrayed  against  the  bank 
and  navy  ;  but  the  Republican  party,  as  a  general  thing, 
had  conquered  their  prejudices  in  regard  to  these  ques- 
tions. It  is  true,  when  the  first  charter  of  the  United 
States  Bank  expired,  in  1811,  it  was  not  renewed,  but  a 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  131 

new  charter  was  granted  under  the  administration  of 
Madison  in  1816  ;  and  during  the  war  the  navy  was 
built  up,  and  has  ever  continued  a  living  witness  of  the 
absurdity  of  Jefferson's  anti-commercial  gun-boat  sys- 
tem. Langdon  Cheeves  was  the  chairman  on  the  naval 
committee  in  the  Twelfth  Congress,  who  reported  in  favor 
of  a  bill  increasing  and  establishing  our  navy.  Much 
discussion  ensued ;  but  the  measure  was  warmly  es- 
poused by  the  ablest  Republicans  in  the  Congress.  It 
was  advocated  by  such  men  as  Lowndes,  Crawford,  and 
Clay,  Republicans  ;  and  Quincy  and  Lloyd  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Federalists.  The  old  claim  that  this  country 
was  not  to  excel  in  commerce  ;  that  a  powerful  navy 
would  lead  to  monarchy,  and  was  inconsistent  with 
republican  institutions  ;  that  to  sustain  a  navy,  capa- 
ble of  encountering  the  monstrous  naval  establishment 
of  England,  would  incur  a  charge  far  superior  to  all  the 
profits  that  could  ever  be  realized  from  the  commerce  it 
could  protect ;  were  urged  by  the  opponents  of  the  bill. 
But  these  objections  were  all  ably  answered  by  its 
friends,  and  the  policy  of  establishing  and  maintaining 
a  naval  power,  sufficient  for  the  exigencies  of  our  coun- 
try, was  steadily  persevered  in  through  that  and  all 
future  Congresses.  The  triumph  of  this  measure  was 
perhaps  the  fruit  of  the  war.  The  statesmen  of  that 
day  were  led,  by  the  necessities  of  the  case,  to  see  that 
a  powerful  naval  establishment  was  indispensable  to 
this  country.  Those  engaged  in  commerce  feared  that 
the  charges  of  sustaining  such  an  institution  would  fall 
upon  them  ;  and  that  the  agriculturists  of  the  West  and 
South,  not  engaged  in  commerce,  would  be  lessburthened 
with  the  establishment.  But  the  public  men  of  those  days 
were  capable  of  taking  more  enlarged  views  of  the 
12* 


132  A   HISTORY   OF 

interests  of  the  country,  and  they  demonstrated  that 
whatever  tended  to  protect  and  benefit  one  section,  was 
beneficial  to  the  whole.  If  the  men  and  money  of  the 
North  were  engaged  with  their  ships  in  commercial  en- 
terprises, it  was  shown  that  the  West  and  South  were 
the  great  staple  producers  and  the  consumers  of  foreign 
goods,  without  whose  productions,  and  consumption  of 
imported  articles,  there  could  be  no  commerce.  And  by 
the  same  reasoning  those  in  the  South  and  West  who 
opposed  an  expensive  navy,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
to  protect  the  commerce  of  the  North,  were  taught  that 
without  that  Northern  commerce  their  productions 
would  be  of  no  value. 

The  war  was  also  peculiarly  well  calculated  to  dem- 
onstrate the  utility  of  internal  improvements,  and  of 
domestic  manufactures.  Early  Republicanism  had  looked 
with  dread  upon  manufacturing  interests.  The  English 
manufacturing  cities,  with  their  wretched,  half-starved 
operatives,  and  squalid  aspects,  were  ever  appealed  to 
QS  examples  of  this  sort  of  industry,  and  measures  in- 
tended for  the  building  up  of  manufacturing  interests 
were  frowned  upon  by  many.  But,  from  his  first  en- 
trance into  public  life,  Henry  Clay  became  the  unwaver- 
ing advocate  of  protection  to  home  industry ;  and  the 
experiences  of  the  last  war  came  in  aid  of  his  powerful 
logic  upon  the  question.  The  tariff  of  1816,  immedi- 
ately following  the  treaty  of  peace,  was  the  legitimate 
fruit  of  the  war,  and  a  return  to  the  farseeing  policy 
of  Hamilton.  The  tariff  of  1816  was  a  tariff  for  pro- 
tection ;  and  those  who  advocated  it,  did  so  on  the 
ground  of  protection.  At  that  day,  the  leading  Demo- 
crats, such  as  Lowndes,  Crawford,  Calhoun,  and  Henry 
Clay,  were  clear  and  decided  in  their  views  of  the  pro- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  133 

priety  of  encouraging  domestic  manufactures,  that  this 
country  might  manufacture  for  its  own  consumption, 
and  be  independent  of  foreign  supplies.  The  policy 
was  soundly  and  auspiciously  inaugurated.  Massachu- 
setts, and  commercial  circles  in  the  East,  for  a  long 
time  opposed  the  measure,  fearing  that  such  restrictions 
on  importations  would  diminish  the  profits  of  commerce, 
which  consisted  in  shipping  goods  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  selling  them  here.  Commerce  was  a  sweet 
that  the  East  had  then  tasted,  while  manufacturing  was 
but  an  untried  experiment.  That,  in  the  protective 
measure  of  1816,  the  South  exercised  a  sounder  policy 
for  New  England,  than  the  latter  did  for  herself,  is  evi- 
dent enough  now ;  and  that  the  doctrines  of  that  day 
were  conceived  in  good  faith,  patriotism,  and  the  true 
principles  of  political  economy,  there  is  not  a  particle 
of  doubt.  The  agitations  of  party  may  for  a  while  cause 
perturbations  in  a  nation's  policy ;  but  eventually  this 
country  will  return  to  the  truly  American  system 
of  1816.  Saving  the  factious  opposition  of  the  Feder- 
alists of  the  North,  and  the  commercial  opposition  of 
the  same  section  to  the  protective  system,  there  was 
nothing  selfish,  narrow,  or  sectional,  in  the  Congress  of 
1816,  and  the  domestic  policy  then  inaugurated  looked 
to  the  best  good  of  each  part,  by  promoting  the  best 
good  of  the  whole  country.  Measures  of  internal  im- 
provement were  encouraged  by  the  Democrats  of  those 
days,  and  by  no  one  more  ably  than  by  John  C.  Cal- 
houn  ;  and,  although  the  views  of  the  Democratic  party 
have  since  changed  in  regard  to  these,  as  well  as  to 
the  tariif,  the  sentiments  of  early  times  are  fast  return- 
ing. But  recently  a  Democratic  congress  passed  inter- 
nal improvement  bills  by  a  two-thirds  vote  over  the 


134  A    HISTORY   OP 

President's  veto  ;  and  it  is  confidently  trusted  that  the 
American  system  of  early  Democracy  will  yet  triumph 
as  the  settled  and  firm  policy  of  the  country.  Until 
that  day  comes,  and  until  this  country  so  adjusts  her 
measures  of  internal  and  foreign  policy  as  to  secure  and 
foster  all  her  great  interests,  she  will  be  but  the  colony 
of  Europe,  and  never  free  from  revulsions  and  commer- 
cial disasters,  which  must  periodically  afflict  all  classes, 
and  render  industry  here  subservient  to  the  interests  of 
the  Old  World.  When  dispassionately  viewed,  this  is 
seen  by  everybody.  The  statesmen  of  1816  were  in  a 
favorable  point  for  observation,  and  this  is  their  recorded 
testimony.  That  a  country  of  so  vast  extent,  resources, 
and  advantages,  as  this,  should,  through  sectional  par- 
tialities, adapt  its  measures  so  as  to  render  it  but  a 
tributary  to  the  riches  of  England,  is  unpatriotic  and 
ruinous. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  135 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

MR.     MONROE     ELECTED    IN    1816    AND    1820. — EXTINCTION     OF     PARTY 

SPIRIT.  —  MONROE'S   CABINET.  —  REPUBLICANS  SUPPORT  BANK,  IN- 
TERNAL   IMPROVEMENTS,   TARIFF,    AND    NAVY. — MEASURES    OF    MR. 

CLAY.  —  MR.    CRAWFORD'S   PRESIDENTIAL   EXPECTATIONS.  —  HENRY 
CLAY'S.  —  j.    c.    CALHOUN'S.  —  ANDREW    JACKSON'S.  —  TARIFF   OF 

1816  AND   1824.  —  SOUTHERN   JEALOUSIES,   ETC. 

THE  Federal  party  Ifad  staked  its  fortunes  on  opposi- 
tion to  the  war,  and  was  ruined.  It  is  true  that  party 
had  changed  much  in  its  leaders,  as  well  as  in  its  meas- 
ures. There  were  many  of  the  old  Federalists  who 
could  not  concur  in  the  factious  opposition  of  their  party 
to  the  administration,  and  left  it  for  the  Republican 
ranks.  Among  the  most  noted  of  these  were  Samuel 
Dexter,  Oliver  Wolcott,  and  that  sterling  old  revolu- 
tionary patriot,  John  Adams.  At  the  close  of  Mr. 
Madison's  administration,  the  Federal  party  was  effect- 
ually silenced — to  use  a  military  expression.  The  presi- 
dential contest  of  1816  was  attended  with  scarcely 
any  excitement,  the  Federal  party  being  too  small  to 
justify  any  effort.  Rufus  King  was  their  candidate,  and 
received  the  votes  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and 
Maryland  ;  thirty-four  in  all.  Mr.  Madison's  Secretary 
of  State,  James  -Monroe,  was  the  Republican  candidate, 
and  received  kthe  votes  of  the  other  sixteen  states,  mak- 
ing one  hundred  and  eighty-three.  Mr.  Monroe  was,  in 
1820,  almost  unanimously  reflected  President,  there 


136  A   HISTORY   OF 

being  but  one  vote  cast  against  him.  Connecticut 
became  Republican  in  1811,  and,  in  1819,  Maryland, 
and,  in  1823,  Massachusetts  passed  from  the  hands 
of  the  Federalists.  Among  the  members  of  the  cabinet 
of  Mr.  Monroe,  were  John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary 
of  State  ;  William  H.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury ;  George  Graham,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  War  ; 
and  William  Wirt,  Attorney  General. 

Congress,  during  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  was 
not  entirely  harmonious  upon  all  questions,  nor  were 
the  members  unanimous  in  the  support  of  the  President. 
The  New  England  members  were  more  uniformly  and 
constantly  his  supporters  than  those  from  any  other  sec- 
tion, and  on  some  measures  the  opposition  to  the 
President's  views  was  in  the  ascendency  in  Congress. 
The  conflicts  and  contentions  between  members  were 
conducted  with  no  design  of  embarrassing  Mr.  Monroe's 
administration ;  they  were  either  honest  differences  of 
opinion  as  to  public  measures,  or  efforts  made  to  influ- 
ence the  succession.  The  idea  that  the  Federal  had 
become  entirely  absorbed  into  the  Republican  party, 
and  that  but  one  universal  party  was  to  rule  the  coun- 
try, was  not  entertained  by  all  the  politicians  of  those 
days.  The  Federal  party  was  overthrown ;  but  there 
were  scattered  throughout  the  land  a  large  number  of 
Federalists.  Of  course  they  had  no  expectations  of 
electing  a  successor  to  Mr.  Monroe.  But  the  leaders 
of  the  Republican  party  were  divided  on  many  meas- 
ures. There  was  a  tendency,  on  the  side  of  the  more 
radical  part  of  the  Democracy,  to  recede  from  the  liberal, 
policy  which  had  sprung  up  after  the  last  war.  Conse- 
quently, during  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  were 
thoroughly  discussed  the  questions  of  Bank,  Tariff, 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  137 

Navy,  and  Internal  Improvements  ;  and,  as  a  whole, 
these  measures  were  embraced  by  the  leading  Repub- 
licans. All  have  read  the  speeches  of  Henry  Clay,  and 
some  of  the  most  able  of  them  were  made,  at  this  period, 
on  the  tariff  and  internal  improvement  measures.  On 
the  last  named  measure  Mr.  Clay,  although  the  ablest 
Republican  in  the  country,  encountered  the  views  of  the 
President  with  all  his  ability.  Mr.  Monroe  in  his  mes- 
sage to  Congress  took  occasion  to  distinctly  lay  down 
his  opinions  as  to  the  constitutional  power  of  the  gen- 
eral government  to  prosecute  works  of  internal  improve- 
ment. The  state-rights  notions  of  Jefferson  and  Mad- 
ison had  been  against  such  a  power,  and  Mr.  Monroe 
announced  his  opinion  that  Congress  had  it  not ;  but 
he  regarded  such  measures  of  such  vast  consequence 
to  the  country,  that  he  recommended  that  steps  should 
be  taken  for  the  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  giving 
the  general  government  the  requisite  power. 

We  have  seen  that  the  United  States  Bank  was  char- 
tered by  the  Republican  administration.  Mr.  Crawford 
had  been  its  champion  from  the  first,  and  his  argument 
in  its  favor  was  what  first  gave  him  a  national  reputa- 
tion as  an  able  statesman.  At  first,  Mr.  Clay  had 
doubted  the  constitutionality  of  a  United  States  Bank  ; 
but,  after  the  powerful  exposition  of  the  question  by  Mr. 
Crawford,  not  only  Mr.  Clay,  but  many  other  Democrats, 
yielded  their  doubts,  and  were  afterwards  supporters  of 
the  measure.  Mr.  Crawford  was  an  able  and  influential 
man,  and  was  the  competitor  of  Mr.  Monroe  for  the 
nomination  for  the  presidency  in  1816,  and  in  the  con- 
gressional caucus  received  a  respectable  share  of  the 
votes.  His  standing  had  not  become  impaired  at  the 
12* 


138  A   HISTORY   OF 

close  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration.  He  was  one  of 
the  contestants  for  the  succession. 

According  to  the  practice  of  those  days  we  are  to 
understand  that  Mr.  Monroe,  by  appointing  John  Q. 
Adams  Secretary  of  State  preferred  him  for  a  succes- 
sor to  the  presidency  ;  and  Mr.  Adams  was  the  prefer- 
ence of  New  England.  Mr.  Adams  was  a  Republican, 
as  had  also  been  his  celebrated  father  since  the  adminis- 
tration of  Jefferson. 

Henry  Clay  had  made  a  strong  impression  in  the 
country,  and  Kentucky,  and  other  Western  States,  re- 
garded him  as  a  promising  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
He  had  been  a  prominent  leader  of  the  Republican  party 
for  some  years,  and  was  unexcelled,  for  talents  and 
patriotism,  by  any  of  its  members.  His  voice  had  been 
heard,  during  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  in  favor  of 
South  American  and  Grecian  liberty,  in  tones  that 
thrilled  with  enthusiasm  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  ; 
and  no  one  had  said  or  done  more,  to  carry  through  the 
late  war  with  England,  and  to  establish  a  system  of 
national  policy  which  should  render  the  country  pros- 
perous and  independent,  than  he. 

John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  was  also  put  for- 
ward by  his  state  for  the  succession.  Mr.  Calhoun,  by 
his  war  report  in  the  Congress  of  1811  and  '12,  and  his 
speeches  supporting  the  war,  the  navy,  the  tariff,  and 
internal  improvements,  had  characterized  himself  as 
an  able  statesman,  and  an  ardent  patriot.  South  Caro- 
lina, also,  put  forward  Mr.  Loundes  for  a  nomination. 
Mr.  Lowndes  was  justly  prized  as  a  statesman  and 
patriot ;  but  his  decease  soon  ensued. 

Tennessee  offered  for  the  course  Andrew  Jackson, 
a  lawyer  and  captain  ;  the  last  man  of  all  mentioned  in 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  139 

connection  with  the  office  whom  a  statesman  would  have 
selected ;  and  still  he  possessed  elements  of  greatness 
for  the  cabinet  as  well  as  for  the  field  of  battle.  General 
Jackson  had  been  frequently  promoted  to  high  civil 
offices,  such  as  United  States  senator,  and  judge  of  a 
high  court  of  justice,  and  declined  to  retain  the  places, 
on  the  account,  as  always  supposed,  of  inexperience 
and  want  of  fitness  for  such  employments.  "  His  dear- 
est action,"  many  thought,  "had  been  in  the  tented 
field."  His  victory  at  New  Orleans,  however,  had  in- 
vested him  with  a  charm,  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  that 
rendered  his  aspirations,  as  the  result  showed,  anything 
but  contemptible. 

All  of  these  aspirants  (and  they  were  all  Democrats) 
had  their  friends  and  supporters  in  Congress,  and  doubt- 
less much  of  the  debate,  as  at  the  present  day,  was 
intended  for  the  eye  of  the  people,  rather  than  to  pro- 
mote the  measures  under  discussion.  Even  the  conduct 
of  Jackson  in  the  Spanish  province  of  Florida  was  dis- 
cussed. The  British,  it  was  said,  had  sent  emissaries 
there  to  incite  the  Indians  to  acts  of  hostility  against 
the  Americans.  The  general  was  quite  arbitrary  in  his 
procedure  in  the  premises.  He  entered  Pensacola, 
where  he  soon  brought  the  hostile  Indians  to  peace, 
and  rather  unceremoniously,  so  they  said,  executed  a 
couple  of  British  soldiers  that  somehow  or  other  fell 
into  his  hands.  A  resolution  to  censure  Jackson  was 
introduced  into  the  House,  and  warmly  supported  by 
Mr.  Clay  ;  which  fact  should  not  be  forgotten  in  connec- 
tion with  the  subsequent  conduct  of  that  statesman. 
Also  the  Florida  treaty,  the  Texas  cession,  fortifica- 
tions, &c.,  were  before  Congress;  and,  prior  to  the 
close  of  Mr.  Monroe's  term  of  office,  the  tariff  of  1824 
13 


140  A    HISTOEY   OF 

was  passed.  The  tariff  of  1816  had  been  found  defi- 
cient for  the  purposes  for  which  it  had  been  intended, 
and,  after  a  thorough  discussion,  the  tariff  of  1824  was 
enacted.  The  tariff  of  1816  had  failed  to  effect  what 
the  act  of  1824  accomplished  immediately.  It  was  not 
merely  a  revenue  act,  but  a  tariff  strongly  protective, 
and  its  good  effects  were  at  once  witnessed  in  all  parts 
of  the  country.  The  curious  reader  of  politics  will 
turn,  with  some  wonder,  and  read  the  names  of  those 
whose  votes  stand  recorded  for  and  against  that  act. 
It  was  a  thoroughly  Democratic  measure,  of  course,  as 
Congress  at  the  time  had  scarcely  more  than  a  baker's 
dozen  of  Federalists  in  it.  But  already  had  sectional 
interests  begun  to  show  themselves  in  Congress,  and 
soon  national  policy  had  to  make  way  for  that  of  a  sec- 
tion. There  had  been  in  the  North  the  fiercest,  long 
continued,  and  most  bitter  denunciations  of  the  South, 
her  people  and  institutions.  The  better  part  of  the  North- 
ern people,  of  course,  did  not  join  in  this  sectional  cru- 
sade ;  but  the  existence  in  the  North  of  an  active  and 
bitter  sectional  spirit  aroused  the  vigilance  of  Southern 
politicians,  and  at  an  early  day  inspired  them  with  ap- 
prehensions for  the  future.  The  South  had  not  orig- 
inally been  jealous  of  the  North.  Virginia  bestowed 
on  the  Union  an  empire  of  territory,  and  voluntarily 
consecrated  it  to  freedom.  The  Union  itself  was  a 
divine  emanation  from  the  heart  of  Virginia  patriots  ; 
and  on  the  ascendency  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  the 
general  government,  cordially  supported  by  the  whole 
South,  engaged  in  a  war  with  England  to  redress  the 
wrongs  and  vindicate  the  rights  of  Northern  seamen.  It 
would  indeed  be  hard,  during  the  early  days  of  the  re- 
public, to  find  an  instance  where  the  South,  as  such, 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  141 

desired,  or  sought  an  occasion  to  trample  on  the  rights 
of  the  North,  or  were  the  offenders  in  a  sectional  con- 
troversy. But  in  the  North,  unfortunately,  there  had 
been  rabid  haters  of  the  South,  and  radical  disunionists, — 
those  who  made  no  secret  of  an  aggressive  spirit 
towards  Southern  institutions,  —  and  it  was  not  strange 
that,  witnessing  the  intemperance  of  these,  the  South 
should  in  time  become  aroused  to  a  defence  of  her 
peculiar  interests. 


142  A   HISTORY   OP 


CHAPTER    XY. 

ENGLISH  POLICY  AND  PROSPERITY. NATIONAL  INDEPENDENCE.  —  BRIT- 
AIN   DEPENDENT     ON   AMERICA     FOR     THE     RAW   MATERIAL   FOR   HER 

MANUFACTURES,  WITHOUT  WHICH  HER  COMMERCE  COULD  NOT  EXIST. 

THIS  DEPENDENCE  FORCED  THE  PEACE  OF  1814. — HER  EFFORTS  TO 
RELIEVE  HERSELF.  —  HER  INDIAN  COLONIES  CANNOT  COMPETE  WITH 
SLAVE  LABOR  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  —  HER  ATTEMPTS  TO  OVER- 
THROW SLAVERY. SLAVE-TRADE  AND  ANTI-SLAVERY. EFFECT  OF 

HER  ANTI-SLAVERY  CRUSADE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. MISSOURI  CON- 
TROVERSY. —  ANTI-SLAVERY  FEELING  IN  NEW  ENGLAND  ARTIFICIAL. — 
SLAVERY  A  NECESSITY  TO  THE  SOUTH.  —  THE  NEGRO.  —  NEGRO  SERVI- 
TUDE AN  INSTRUMENTALITY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  PROVIDENCE  FOR  THE 
CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  WORLD. — EFFECT  OF  SERVITUDE  UPON  THE 
NEGRO.  —  RIGHT  OF  CONGRESS  TO  EXCLUDE  A  NEW  STATE  ON  ACCOUNT 
OF  ITS  TOLERATING  SLAVERY,  ETC. 

ENGLAND  has  been  taught  her  policy  by  experience. 
It  is  not  to  be  disputed  but  that  occasionally  she  has 
had  statesmen  capable,  by  original  measures,  of  devel- 
oping her  interests ;  but,  generally,  the  commanding 
importance  of  her  interests  has  controlled  the  govern- 
ment, and  sometimes  in  spite  of  itself.  Her  prime  inter- 
ests, in  former  years,  were  not  always  readily  taken 
into  protection  by  the  reigning  power.  It  was  a  long 
while  before  the  feudal  lord  could  busy  himself  in 
studying  the  interests  of  the  merchant  and  mechanic. 
But  the  revolutions  of  later  periods  have  changed  the 
spirit  of  the  British  government.  She  is  now  eminently 
a  trading  nation  —  a  nation  of  merchants  and  mechan- 
ics. To  promote  her  trade  and  manufactures  is  now 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  143 

one  of  the  first  objects  of  her  policy.  For  this  she 
maintains  a  large  navy,  establishes  colonies  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  sustains  a  trafficking  friendship  with 
every  nation  on  the  earth.  The  East  Indies,  embracing 
quite  a  share  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  are  re- 
duced to  her  power,  purely  for  the  purposes  of  trade  ; 
and  the  globe  is  dotted  over  with  her  colonies,  which 
consume  her  fabrics,  and  give  employment  to  her  mer- 
chant-ships. Her  manufactures  are  not  only  used  by 
her  colonies  ;  they  are  also  demanded  by  the  whole 
world,  millions  on  millions  of  them  being  annually  im- 
ported into  the  United  States.  Strip  England  of  her 
manufactories  and  of  her  commerce,  and  her  power 
and  importance  would  at  once  disappear.  The  products 
of  her  manufactories,  in  which  millions  of  her  people  are 
employed,  are  enormous.  These  manufactories  are  in- 
dispensable to  her  commerce,  without  which  her  colonial 
system,  and  her  whole  commercial  prosperity,  would 
fall  into  ruin.  Her  mechanics  must  have  employment, 
or  the  twenty  odd  millions  of  people  in  those  small  isles 
would  be  obliged  to  devour  each  other  for  subsistence. 
The  fabrics  manufactured  must  have  a  market ;  and  if 
necessary,  in  order  to  force  them  into  China  or  India,  to 
sacrifice  a  few  thousand  soldiers,  and  a  few  millions  of 
dollars,  the  offering  is  always  readily  and  cheerfully  put 
forth.  Her  goods  are  forced  into  some  countries  by 
war,  into  some  by  fear,  and  some  are  induced  to  take 
them  by  bribery.  Her  arms  are  ever  ready  to  place  a 
crown  upon  the  head  of  a  free-trade  king  in  India,  and 
her  money  to  elect  a  free-trade  president  in  America. 
The  great  cardinal  principle  of  modern  British  policy  is 
to  keep  her  manufactories  in  employ,  and  to  keep  the 
world  abroad  an  open  market  for  her  fabrics. 
13* 


1  14:  A   HISTORY   OF 

The  works  of  Providence  are  inscrutable.  We  see 
enough  to  arouse  our  curiosity  and  admiration ;  but 
when  we  think  her  benign  designs  in  our  special  behalf 
are  clearly  manifest,  we  are  apt  almost  always  suddenly, 
on  having  our  eyes  opened  by  some  unexpected  devel- 
opment, to  find  ourselves  wonderfully  deceived.  Na- 
tions as  well  as  men  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  if,  by 
His  disposal  of  events,  mortals  are  disappointed,  it  is 
undoubtedly  because  He  consults  His  own,  and  not  the 
counsels  of  men.  No  nation  owns  Him :  He  is  the 
special  favorite  and  patron  of  no  race,  or  body  of  human 
beings.  The  earth  is  allotted  to  man.  The  nations 
should  form  a  family,  as  well  as  individuals.  This  could 
never  be,  if  it  were  in  the  power  of  one  to  monopolize 
all  the  resources  of  the  earth.  Perfect  independence  in 
nations  should  no  more  be  expected  than  in  individuals. 
Mutual  dependence,  as  well  in  nations  as  in  individual 
men,  is  a  law  of  nature,  which  it  can  never  be  wisdom 
to  endeavor  to  wholly  overcome.  How  far  nations  or 
men  should  strive  for  independence  is  a  question  left  for 
the  solution  of  human  wisdom  ;  arid,  as  mortals  are  blind 
and  erring  creatures,  passionate,  selfish,  bigoted  and 
conceited,  they  cannot  be  expected  to  always  judge 
modestly,  moderately,  and  correctly,  on  such  a  question. 
There  may  be  some  pleasure  in  the  excited  hopes  of 
selfishness  and  of  self-importance  ;  but,  after  all,  probably 
our  happiness  much  depends  on  the  true  solution  of 
this  very  question.  Certainly  a  correct  decision  of  it 
would  save  individuals  much  strife  and  mortification ; 
and  save  nations  angry  altercations  and  war. 

At  an  early  period  of  the  independent  existence  of 
the  United  States,  Great  Britain  made  a  discovery 
which  has  since  powerfully  affected  her  foreign  policy. 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  145 

She  found  that  America  held  her  by  a  powerful  bond. 
Yes,  her  manufactories,  her  fleets  and  commerce,  were 
all  dependent  on  the  cotton  plantations  of  the  United 
States.  While  at  war  with  us,  her  plunder  from  our 
commerce,  and  from  that  of  other  nations,  for  a  while  in 
a  measure  compensated  for  the  distress  occasioned  by 
loss  of  American  trade,  and  the  raw  material  thereby 
drawn  from  this  country  ;  but,  in  a  state  of  peace,  Brit- 
ish prosperity  was  found  dependent  on  commerce  with 
the  United  States.  She  manufactured  for  the  whole 
world  ;  but,  unawares,  she  discovered  that  the  raw  mate- 
rial for  her  fabrics  was  the  product  of  this  country. 
The  discovery  evidently  startled  and  distressed  our 
venerable  mother.  From  that  day  to  the  present  she 
has  resorted  to  every  effort,  and  tried  every  expedient 
imaginable,  to  relieve  herself  from  absolute  dependence 
on  America  for  cotton ;  but  destiny  seems  to  chain  her 
as  by  an  unalterable  fiat  to  our  control.  Throughout 
all  her  expedients  and  resorts  to  emancipate  herself 
from  dependence  on  us  for  the  raw  material  of  her  man- 
ufactures, she  has  been  obliged  to  maintain  towards  us 
an  affable,  plausible,  truck-and-dicker  friendship.  She 
would  gladly  have  given  the  production  of  cotton  to 
Hindoos,  Hottentots,  or  Turks,  at  the  expense  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  still,  as  the  richest  of  all  her  foreign 
markets  for  her  goods  was  with  easy,  green,  and  unsus- 
pecting Brother  Jonathan,  she  ever  greeted  him  with 
affected  cordiality  and  studied  politeness.  She  has,  or 
rather,  if  we  take  her  personified  as  Johnny  Bull,  he 
has  smiled  and  stabbed,  and  smiled  and  stabbed  again  ; 
but  impotence  has  rendered  his  dagger  harmless,  as 

yet. 

William  Pitt  the  younger  was  her  first  great  states- 


146  A   HISTORY    OF 

man  that  saw  the  secret  of  our  superiority  in  the  pro- 
duction of  cotton.  Though  a  liberal  statesman,  Fox 
could  not  resist  the  policy  of  Pitt,  and  finally  embraced 
it.  It  was  seen  and  felt  that,  with  slavery,  the  United 
States  must  ever  monopolize  the  production  of  that 
material.  What  should  the  statesmen  of  the  British 
Isles  do  to  crush  this  odious  monopoly,  that  so  power- 
fully bound  British  interests  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
United  States  ?  A  hasty  glance  of  those  statesmen 
satisfied  them  that  the  way  to  effect  their  object  was  to 
overthrow  the  slave-trade  and  slavery.  The  slave-trade 
had  continued  from  an  early  period  of  the  settlement  of 
America,  and  during  its  continuance  many  millions  of 
slaves  had  been  imported  from  Africa  to  the  West  In- 
dies, and  the  Spanish,  French,  and  English  colonies  of 
America.  England  saw  that  cotton  could  be  produced 
in  her  East  Indian  possessions,  but  not  in  competition 
with  slave  labor  in  the  United  States.  To  destroy  this 
inequality,  and  to  give  her  cheap  Hindoo  labor  the 
advantage,  slavery  in  the  United  States  must  be 
extinguished.  To  effect  this  it  was  considered  sufficient 
to  overthrow  the  slave-trade.  The  importation  of 
slaves  had  never  ceased,  and  the  supply  seemed  never 
to  exceed  the  demand.  Without  this  supply  —  without 
this  trade  —  it  was  concluded  by  Britain  that  slavery 
itself  would  soon  expire  in  the  United  States. 

Impressed  with  these  views,  the  statesmen  of  Great 
Britain  commenced  a  fierce  war  upon  the  slave-trade, 
and,  as  the  interests  of  many  of  her  people  were  much 
involved  in  the  question,  it  was  not  abolished  at  once. 
The  touching  exertions  and  appeals  of  Wilberforce  and 
Clarkson,  and  a  host  of  other  speakers  and  writers,  had 
a  powerful  effect  in  Old  and  New  England  ;  but  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  147 

measure  was  not  carried  until  1808.  In  1808,  also,  the 
United  States,  less  intent  on  material  interests  than  on" 
ideas  of  humanity,  prohibited  the  importation  of  slaves. 
Britain  was  visibly  and  sensibly  affected  at  this  act  of 
her  unpromising  son  ;  and  she  could  not  endure  to  be 
only  equal  to  him  in  efforts  in  the  cause  of  freedom. 
The  act,  however,  by  which  Great  Britain  prohibited 
her  subjects  from  engaging  in  the  slave-trade  after  1808, 
was  passed  in  1807.  The  debates  in  Parliament  at  the 
time  would  disclose  to  any  but  the  senses  of  a  Jonathan 
the  expectations  of  the  British  statesmen  in  regard  to  the 
abolishing  of  the  slave-trade.  It  was  stated  in  those  de- 
bates that  England  had  in  her  West  Indian  possessions 
upwards  of  four  hundred  thousand  slaves,  and  it  was  esti- 
mated that  to  keep  that  number  good  an  importation  often 
thousand  annually  would  be  requisite.  By  cutting  off  the 
supply  entirely,  it  was  regarded  as  certain  that  slavery 
itself  would  in  a  short  time  cease.  The  reasoning  in  re- 
gard to  the  United  Slates,  though  of  course  not  expressed, 
was  based  upon  the  same  data. 

But,  to  cut  off  the  trade  so  as  to  entirely  deprive  the 
United  States  of  the  supply  sufficient  to  keep  up  her 
necessary  slave  force,  it  was  apparent  that  more  gov- 
ernments than  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  should 
renounce  the  trade,  and  enter  into  a  league  against  it. 
The  necessities  of  the  United  States  would  hardly  resist 
temptation  if  other  nations  should  continue  to  bring  to 
her  ports  servants  so  indispensable  to  her.  Here 
Britain's  disinterested  humanity  and  practical  love  of 
freedom  were  singularly  manifested.  She  complimented 
the  humanity  of  her  son  Jonathan,  and  especially 
praised  all  the  Jonathans  that  had  manifested  a  proper 
and  becoming  abhorrence  of  slavery,  and  then  ad- 


148  A  HISTORY   OF 

dressed  herself  to  the  other  powers  practising  the  hate- 
ful traffic.  Denmark,  Sweden,  the  Netherlands,  France, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  other  states  engaged  in  the  slave- 
trade  were  importuned,  and  finally  with  success,  to  give 
it  up.  None  of  the  powers  applied  to  were  readily 
willing  to  concur  with  England  in  her  work  of  humanity. 
Denmark  prohibited  her  subjects  from  carrying  slaves 
after  1804.  Louis  the  Eighteenth  promised  the  British 
minister,  Castlereagh,  in  1814,  that  France  should  aban- 
don the  trade  ;  but  she  continued  it  afterwards.  At 
the  Congress  of  Vienna,  in  1815,  Castlereagh  pressed  the 
subject ;  but  all  he  could  obtain  was  a  promise  from 
Spain  and  Portugal  to  give  up  the  slave-trade  north  of 
the  line.  It  is  easily  perceived  that  it  was  something 
accomplished  by  England,  in  her  work,  to  prohibit  the 
slave-trade  north  of  the  equator  ;  but  this  did  not  sat- 
isfy the  humane  feelings  of  the  great  champion  of  human 
rights  of  modern  times.  Spain  and  Portugal  were,  with 
the  exception  of  France,  the  greatest  dealers  in  slaves. 
As  for  France,  Louis  the  Eighteenth  owed  his  crown 
to  British  bayonets,  and  readily  accommodated  his 
benefactress  in  her  work  of  love.  But  as  for  Spain  and 
Portugal,  their  hearts  had  not  yet  been  opened.  They 
were  still  blinded  by  the  passion  for  gain ;  and  minister- 
ing England,  like  a  true  angel  of  mercy,  opened  their 
eyes  by  the  application  of  handsome  bonuses.  To  Por- 
tugal she  promised  about  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars, 
and  to  Spain  she  gave  about  two  millions  of  dollars,  as 
indemnification  for  giving  up  a  line  of  business  which 
she  thus  had  all  at  once  come  to  view  as  unjust  and 
horrible.  A  more  active  humanity  than  that  for  several 
years  manifested  by  our  worthy  and  respected  mother 
has  rarely  been  witnessed  in  nations.  These  extraor- 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  149 

dinary  exertions  for  abolishing  the  slave-trade  were 
made  immediately  after  her  last  war  with  the  United 
States.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  but  little  progress 
was  made  in  the  ruin  of  American  slavery.  The  im- 
portation of  slaves  into  South  America  and  the  West 
Indies,  and  consequently  to  some  extent  into  the  United 
States,  still  continued.  Moreover,  the  anti-slavery  re- 
form, originating  in  England,  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and 
was  exceedingly  popular  in  America.  Emancipation 
societies  sprung  up  through  the  land,  many  of  the 
Northern  States  having  got  rid  of  their  slaves,  and  passed 
laws  against  the  institution  ;  and  some  of  those  now 
reckoned  as  Southern  States  were  on  the  point  of  abol- 
ishing their  slavery.  In  America  there  was  nothing 
pecuniary  or  selfish  in  the  movement.  By  the  atten- 
tion the  subject  received,  the  condition  of  the  African 
underwent  an  entire  change,  —  a  change  pregnant  with 
the  most  important  consequences.  The  comfort,  hap- 
piness, and  morals,  of  the  slave  were  provided  for  and 
secured.  His  treatment  was  more  humane.  His  security 
from  abuse  was  not  only  preserved  by  laws,  but  also 
guarded  by  a  wholesome  public  feeling.  American 
slavery  at  once  assumed  a  new  character,  and  the 
African  became,  under  his  American  master,  a  new 
being.  In  all  this  the  master's  humanity  was  amply 
rewarded.  In  proportion  as  the  negro  was  rendered 
comfortable  and  happy  he  became  prolific.  As  an 
American-born  and  an  American-raised  negro  is 
superior  for  service  to  one  brought  from  the  savage 
wilds  of  Dahomey,  the  United  States  had  a  better  sup- 
ply for  slaves  than  could  be  afforded  by  the  slave-trade. 
It  is  a  pity  that  the  humane  movements  of  the  earlier 
period  of  our  history  could  not  have  continued  undis- 


150  A   HISTORY    OF 

turbed  by  sectional  hostility  ;  but,  unfortunately,  the 
zeal  of  Northern  reformers  outran  their  wisdom.  Their 
incendiary  missions  among  the  slaves  soon  called  for 
severe  legislation  on  the  part  of  slave  states,  as  self-pro- 
tection from  the  consequences  of  Northern  fanaticism. 
Laws  against  teaching  negroes  to  read  and  write  were 
demanded  as  a  defence  against  the  incendiary  teaching 
of  ultra  Northern  reformers,  who  were  not  content  with 
improving  the  condition  of  the  servant,  but  must  teach 
him  rebellion  and  murder.  It  is  pleasant  to  know  that 
many  of  the  severe  laws,  called  into  existence  by 
Northern  fanaticism,  are  regarded  as  only  defensive 
enactments,  and  never  enforced  saving  in  extreme  cases. 
While  England  and  the  United  States  were  thus 
warmly  engaged  in  righting  the  manifold  wrongs  of  the 
slave,  an  event  occurred  that  shook  the  Union  to  the 
centre,  and  came  near  rending  it  in  twain.  In  the  Con- 
gress of  1818  and  '19,  Missouri,  a  portion  of  the 
Louisiana  purchase,  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union. 
The  House  of  Representatives  opposed  her  admission 
with  slavery,  and  passed  a  bill  admitting  her  on  condi- 
tion that  slavery  should  cease  on  a  specified  future  day. 
The  Senate  refused  to  concur  with  the  House,  and  the 
question  went  over  to  the  next  Congress.  The  whole 
North  was  arrayed  against  the  admission  of  Missouri 
with  slavery.  They  claimed  that  Congress  had  power 
to  prohibit  the  existence  of  slavery  in  any  new  state. 
The  South  denied  this,  and  claimed  that,  by  the  Con- 
stitution, Congress  had  no  such  power.  During  the 
recess  of  Congress,  presses,  orators,  wandering  lecturers, 
pulpits,  and  legislatures,  were  in  a  blaze  of  excitement. 
There  was  too  much  frenzy  to  allow  reason  or  justice  to 
have  great  weight  in  the  controversy.  The  question 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  151 

involved  in  that  dispute  has  been  agitated  till  the  pres- 
ent day ;  but  passion  on  both  sides  has  been  so 
strongly  enlisted  that  no  satisfactory  decision  could  be 
arrived  at.  There  is  undoubtedly  a  right  side  to  the 
question,  and  all  should  strive  to  find  it  out ;  but  the 
truth  can  never  be  seen  through  the  mists  of  passion. 
Any  fact,  any  statement,  against  our  prejudices,  or  pre- 
possessions, is  at  once '  indignantly  rejected,  and  we 
only  receive  such  impressions  as  harmonize  with  our 
feelings.  But  in  matters  of  state,  and  especially  in  a 
free  government  like  ours,  where  it  is  our  duty  not  only 
to  obtain  our  own,  but  likewise  to  concede  to  others 
their  rights,  we  should  strive  to  be  dispassionate,  and 
to  look  at  things  in  their  true  light. 

There  are,  in  the  popular  mind,  many  false  ideas  with 
regard  to  slavery,  the  most  of  which  are  borrowed  from 
England.  For  instance,  that  slavery  is  the  creature  of 
local  law  is  fallacious.  Slavery  has  been  universal,  and 
for  all  time.  No  colony  or  state  ever  established  slavery 
by  legislative  enactments.  Slave  property,  like  all 
other  property,  has  from  time  to  time  been  regulated  by 
local  and  national  legislatures,  but  nowhere  has  owed 
its  existence  to  such  powers.  It  has  ever  been  treated 
as  a  personal  right.  The  early  settlers  of  Massachu- 
setts enslaved  Indians  in  numerous  instances  ;  the  noble 
Winthrop  named  Indians  among  his  bequests  ;  and  in 
their  public  acts  that  colony  recognized  the  propriety  of 
Indian  slavery.  But  this  subjection  of  Indians  to  servi- 
tude was  not  authorized  by  any  local  law ;  it  was 
exercised  as  a  natural  right.  That  colony  held  negro 
slaves  on  the  same  basis.  It  is  true  their  Constitution, 
adopted  in  1790,  virtually  abolished  slavery,  though  not 

in  express  terms.    It  is  competent  for  a  state  to  prohibit 
14 


152  A   HISTORY    OP 

a  citizen's  holding  slaves,  as  it  is  to  prohibit  any  traffic 
deemed  injurious  to  the  public  good ;  but,  without  such 
prohibition,  slavery  would  not  have  terminated  quite  so 
soon  in  Massachusetts.  The  question  arose  in  that 
state  after  the  adoption  of  her  Constitution,  and  her 
courts  pronounced  the  freedom  of  the  negro  as  the 
beneficent  grant  of  that  instrument.  The  people  of  the 
North  are  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  force  of  this 
truth,  that  they  have  liberally  filled  their  statute-books 
with  enactments  against  this  species  of  property ;  but 
still,  deluded  by  popular  sounding  phrases,  they  often 
utter  what  they  little  comprehend,  and  clamor  about 
freedom  being  universal  and  slavery  local.  The  fact 
is  that  the  converse  of  this  proposition  is  nearer  the 
truth.  There  is  not  a  state  on  earth  where  slavery  is 
held  unlawful,  save  by  legislative  or  constitutional 
provisions. 

When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
adopted,  slavery  was  existing  in  all  the  states,  and 
was  fully  recognized  by  that  instrument.  Represent- 
ation and  taxation  were  apportioned  on  the  basis 
of  a  slave  population,  and  provision  was  made  for  the 
return  of  fugitive  slaves.  At  that  day  negroes  were  not 
regarded  as  of  great  value  in  the  Northern  and  Middle 
States,  nor  of  so  much  value  in  the  extreme  South  as 
they  have  since  become.  The  discovery  by  Whitney 
of  the  cotton-gin,  and  the  subsequent  marvellous  in- 
crease of  cotton  cultivation,  has  given  a  new  importance 
to  negro  labor,  and  the  necessity  of  the  institution  of 
slavery  stands  now  in  a  different  light  from  that  in 
which  it  stood  at  the  period  of  the  Revolution. 

It  is  the  unquestionable  duty  of  government  not  only 
to  look  to  what  is  right  and  legal,  but  to  take  into  view 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  153 

things  as  they  actually  exist.  Keformers  never  make 
allowance  for  obstacles.  With  them  imagination  is  at 
the  command  of  the  will,  and  serves  as  a  substitute  for 
facts  and  reason  in  all  cases.  But  legislators  ought  to 
be  independent  of  popular  prejudices,  and  should  en- 
deavor to  arrive  at  the  truth.  When  this  impartial  and 
candid  vantage  ground  is  attained  by  the  legislator,  he 
will  find  that  American  slavery  is  a  fact,  and  a  legal 
fact,  and  shape  his  -measures  accordingly.  Negro 
slavery  is  not  only  a  fact,  but  it  is,  so  far  as  the  negro 
is  concerned,  a  magnificent  one.  Negro  labor  cannot 
compete  with  white  free  labor  in  the  higher  latitudes ;  and 
if  negroes  monopolize  Southern  fields,  they  must  owe 
their  privileges  to  climate  alone.  Slavery  is  not  thrifty, 
and  the  people  dependent  on  it  have  many  disadvan- 
tages to  encounter,  and  look  with  envy  upon  their  more 
fortunate  neighbors  who  can  command  a  more  profitable 
species  of  labor.  But  for  the  Southern  planter  there  is 
no  choice.  The  negro  has  possession  of  his  fields,  and 
must  probably  occupy  them  so  long  as  the  country  shall 
be  habitable.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  South  is 
controlled  by  so  hard  a  necessity  ;  that  she  cannot  exer- 
cise a  choice  as  to  her  laborers.  Could  the  Southern 
planters  employ  free  white  labor,  the  South  would  soon, 
were  it  to  manifest  the  enterprise  peculiar  to  such 
Saxon  energies,  resemble  Paradise.  Could  the  Southern 
people  avail  themselves  of  free  negro  labor,  their  pros- 
pects would  be  more  encouraging ;  but  slavery  is  the 
only  condition  on  which  it  is  possible  for  the  American 
people  to  avail  themselves  of  negro  labor.  Wherever 
the  climate  and  soil  will  admit,  white  free  labor  will 
exclude  black  servitude  ;  but  in  the  Southern  savannas 
slavery  or  desolation  must  prevail.  The  statesman  who 


154  A   HISTOEY  OF 

makes  no  allowance  for  difference  in  race,  in  climate,  in 
soil  and  productions,  and  in  manners  and  customs,  is 
not  fit  to  legislate  for  a  large  empire.  Our  legislators 
in  1820  were  undoubtedly  in  many  respects  contracted 
in  their  views,  and  judged  of  the  whole  Union  as  they 
would  of  a  school-district.  Too  little  allowance  was 
made  by  many  for  the  necessities  of  a  recognized  and 
permanent  institution,  and  the  bitterness  of  sectionalism 
usurped  the  place  of  reason. 

The  negro  race  is  one  of  the  instrumentalities  with 
which  Providence  is  working  out  the  great  problem 
of  human  destiny.  The  more  reasonable  of  Northern 
abolitionists  concede  that  this  race  is  incapable  of  civil- 
ization, saving  when  associated  with  a  higher  race  ;  and 
that,  as  a  general  thing,  the  Africans  in  the  United 
States  are  incapable  of  discharging  the  duties  of  citi- 
zens. None  but  bigoted  fanatics  refuse  to  recognize  the 
negro's  inferiority  and  incapacity  for  self-government ; 
although  England,  who  was  unwilling  to  acknowledge 
her  legitimate  children's  right  of  self-government,  is  now 
ardent  in  supporting  it  in  Africans  !  The  history  of  the 
African  negroes  is  known  as  much  as  is  that  of  any 
uncivilized  and  unlettered  people  ;  slightly  known  by 
external  observation.  The  interior  of  Africa  has  never 
been,  and,  on  account  of  its  extreme  barbarism,  cannot 
well  be  explored.  In  the  country  of  the  negroes  it  is 
estimated  that  there  are  some  fifty  millions  of  blacks, 
who,  for  untold  centuries,  have  made  no  sensible  ad- 
vancement in  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  The  negro  should 
be  tried  by  his  native  condition.  Africa  is  his  home  ;  the 
place  where  he  was  created,  where  he  passed  his 
infancy,  and  has  advanced  to  full  age.  He  was  made 
for  the  climate,  and  in  Africa  is  in  his  chosen  theatre  for 


THE  WHIG   PAETY.  155 

action.  But  civilization  was  not  an  achievement  de- 
signed for  the  negro  as  a  race  ;  it  is  clear  enough  that 
he  was  intended  as  a  parasite  being,  and  created  for 
connection  with,  and  subserviency  to,  another  race.  He 
is  patient,  laborious,  faithful,  friendly,  and  adhesive,  and, 
when  brought  into  connection  with  a  superior  people, 
at  once  springs  into  a  new  and  higher  existence.  He 
has  those  aptitudes  that  render  him  contented  and 
happy  with  a  master  ;  and  every  capacity  with  which  he 
is  blessed  marks  him  as  the  subordinate  and  servant  of 
a  superior  race.  No  person,  who  has  a  moderate  knowl- 
edge of  the  world,  can  be  deceived  as  to  the  negro's 
natural  abilities.  His  lack  of  intellectual  organs,  and 
his  peculiar  organization,  are  significant  and  unquestion- 
able facts,  and  should  never  be  overlooked  or  slighted 
by  the  upright  citizen,  or  the  one  who  would  treat  the 
negro  question  with  fairness  and  justice.  From  ignorant 
bigots  and  fanatics  reason  or  common  sense  is  not  ex- 
pected ;  but  the  intelligent  and  upright  should  accustom 
themselves  to  weigh  every  important  fact  before  pro- 
nouncing on  a  question  in  which  the  rights  of  his  neigh- 
bor are  involved. 

In  the  great  exodus  of  people  from  the  Old  World  to 
America  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
Africa,  providentially,  or  accidentally,  sent  forth  her 
millions.  This  transfer  of  servants  from  Africa  to 
America  was  one  of  the  great  events  of  an  eventful 
age.  Like  the  art  of  printing,  the  mariner's  compass, 
gunpowder,  and  steam,  African  servitude  has  been,  in 
the  hands  of  Providence,  a  necessary  instrumentality  in 
the  great  progress  of  human  affairs  which  has  eventuated 
in  the  birth  of  the  freest,  happiest,  most  prosperous, 
and  most  perfect  republic  that  man  has  ever  enjoyed. 
14* 


156  A   HISTORY    OF 

If  New  England's  boundaries  enclosed  our  entire  repub- 
lic, the  sentiments  of  New  England  people  in  regard  to 
negro  slavery  would  be  more  reasonable  ;  but  it  should 
be  recollected  that  this  republic  verges  well  towards 
the  equator.  The  establishment  of  this  republic  all 
acknowledge  to  have  been  an  era  in  modern  civiliza- 
tion. And  what  one  thing,  steam  not  excepted,  has 
done  more  to  promote  the  arts  of  peace,  and  to  ad- 
vance in  wealth,  refinement,  and  civilization,  every  race 
upon  earth,  and  especially  our  Saxon  cousins  in  Eng- 
land, than  the  cultivation  of  the  cotton-plant  in  the 
South  ?  As  it  was  destined  that  this  Union,  an  instru- 
mentality so  divine,  should  embrace  many  latitudes,  — 
perhaps  the  whole  continent,  —  it  was  necessary  that 
people  adapted  to  its  various  physical  qualities  should 
inhabit  it.  The  rich  fields  of  the  South  were  indispen- 
sable to  the  world  ;  but  it  is  clear  that  they  could  never 
have  been  occupied  and  improved  without  the  conjunc- 
tion, in  the  relationship  now  sustained  by  them,  of  the 
white  and  black  races.  The  immense  blessings,  by  the 
union  conferred  on  the  black  race,  are  only  equalled  by 
the  benefits  conferred  on  the  world  by  Southern  pro- 
ductions ;  the  white  race  in  the  South  is  less  benefited 
by  the  operation.  Every  impartial  traveller  is  filled  with 
admiration  at  beholding  the  negro's  improvement  in 
every  respect.*  Everywhere  the  servants  are  seen,  as 

*  There  is  a  class  of  people  who  are  ever  flattering  themselves 
by  depicting  the  miseries  of  others.  We  have  heard  poor  wretches, 
who  never  scarcely  saw  a  dollar  in  their  lives,  speak  with  great  em- 
phasis of  the  poor  whites  in  the  South  !  The  wonder  is  that  there 
are  any  whites  there  at  all.  It  is  no  place  for  them.  Nature,  for 
their  presumption,  annually  sends  her  plague  to  sweep  oif  thou- 
sands. And,  as  labor  is  impossible  for  the  Caucassiau  in  a  nearly 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  157 

a  general  thing,  well  clad,  well  fed,  well  used,  contented, 
happy,  mannerly,  orderly,  and  exceedingly  addicted  to 
religious  exercises.  When  contrasted  with  Africa,  the 
African  settlements  in  the  South  resemble  Paradise.  If 
the  relationship  between  these  two  races,  of  master  and 
servant,  be  ordained  by  Providence,  it  appears,  from 
every  indication  afforded  by  the  works  of  nature  and 
human  experience,  that  it  is  designed  for  only  a  partic- 
ular climate.  The  negro  and  the  cotton-plant  are  per- 
haps inseparable.  They  were  both  indigenous  to  Africa  ; 

tropical  latitude,  why  does  he  venture  there?  If  he  goes  there  he 
must  expect  to  be  poor,  as  to  his  race  it  is  the  fiat  of  the  climate. 
Of  course,  there  are  locations  which,  from  well-known  physical  causes, 
form  exceptions.  But,  as  to  the  cotton  and  sugar  countries,  it  may 
safely  be  said  there  is  no  field  for  white  labor,  and  the  white  laborer 
should  keep  away.  There  is  but  one  condition  on  which  it  is  possible 
for  the  white  man  to  cultivate  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South,  and  that 
is  by  the  use  of  negro  slaves.  If  he  has  not  the  means  of  purchas- 
ing them,  he  had  better  seek  other  parts  of  the  country.  To  a  limited 
extent  white  labor  is  honorably  and  profitably  employed  in  the  ex- 
treme South  ;  but  the  mass  of  labor  is,  and  ever  must  be,  performed 
by  the  blacks.  Georgia,  in  1735,  or  thereabouts,  was  settled  by  the 
Moravians,  an  exemplary  class  of  Protestant  religionists  from  Ger- 
many.' They  were  highly  anti-slavery  in  their  feelings,  and  would 
not  allow  the  slave-trade  to  be  opened  amongst  them.  In  this  they 
were  in  advance  of  their  Puritan  brethren  in  New  England  who  had 
largely  participated  in  that  trade  and  its  fruits  ;  but  the  Moravians 
were  exceedingly  bitter  against  the  institution.  But  a  short  time 
induced  other  sentiments.  Slavery  was  soon  found  to  be  a  necessity, 
—  indispensable,  —  and,  on  applying  to  their  spiritual  guides  in  the 
homeland,  they  were  told  that  they  could  without  sin  make  use  of 
slaves,  provided  they  would  use  them  well.  But  the  example  of  the 
Moravians  will  have  no  weight  with  a  bigoted  Northern  or  British 
abolitionist  ;  nor  would  the  example,  experience,  or  testimony,  of  the 
most  worthy  and  pious  of  New  England  men  who  have  had  occasion  to 
dwell  in  the  South,  and  perceive  the  necessities  of  negro  servitude  for 
that  clime. 


158  A   HISTORY   OF 

the  latter  to  the  South.  The  servitude  of  the  negro  is 
peculiar.  From  the  nature  of  his  organization  his  ser- 
vices can  only  be  valuable  in  a  clime  resembling  that  of 
his  origin,  and  a  more  temperate  latitude  should  never 
be  burthened  and  cursed  with  his  incumbrance.  Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  have  for  a  long  while 
excluded,  by  their  repulsive  black  servitude,  energies 
that  would  have  rendered  those  states  vastly  wealthy 
and  powerful.  Instead  of  quarrelling  about  abstract 
and  impracticable  ideas,  the  statesman  should  view 
things,  and  act  in  reference  to  them,  as  they  are. 

Fortunately,  or  unfortunately,  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment has  always  possessed  a  large  quantity  of  ter- 
ritory. The  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  govern 
the  territories  as  it  pleases  has  always  been  claimed. 
It  would  be  no  more  than  reasonable  to  allow  that  Con- 
gress can  make  binding  laws  for  the  control  of  its 
territories  ;  still,  many  claim  that  the  settlers  in  the 
territories  are  sovereigns,  and  have  a  right  to  adopt 
their  own  institutions.  But  as  to  states  made  from 
these  territories  another  question  arises.  The  Constitu- 
tion permits  the  admission  of  new  states  on  terms  of 
equality  with  the  original  ones  and  on  no  other  terms. 
Therefore,  when  admitted,  the  new  states  may  be  as 
independent  as  the  old  ones,  and  adopt  just  such  insti- 
tutions, provided  they  be  republican,  as  they  may  prefer. 
On  the  application  of  Missouri  for  admission,  the  North 
said  to  her  that  she  should  not  come  into  the  Union 
unless  she  should  do  so  under  a  pledge  to  become  a  free 
state.  This  was  a  fetter  not  attached  to  any  other  state 
in  the  Union,  and  could  not  constitutionally  have  been 
bound  to  Missouri.  The  South  were  indignant,  and  well 
might  have  been,  for  the  reasons  here  advanced. 


THE   WHIG  PARTY.  159 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

SPREAD  OP  ANTI-SLAVERY  VIEWS  IN  THE  NORTH.  —  INFLUENCE  OP 
ENGLAND.  —  WHEN  MADE  A  PARTY  QUESTION  THE  SLAVERY  ISSUES 
MUST  NECESSARILY  RENDER  PARTIES  SECTIONAL.  —  CLAIM  OF  ANTI- 
SLAVERY  MEN. ABSURDITY  OF  THE  FEAR  OF  THE  EXTENSION  OP 

SLAVERY   INTO    NEW     TERRITORIES. CANNOT     COMPETE   WITH   WHITE 

LABOR,    SAVING    UNDER     THE     PROTECTION     OF   A   SOUTHERN    SUN. 

EXCLUSION   OF   SLAVES   FROM   TERRITORIES   ADAPTED   TO   THEIR  LABOR 

CRUELTY   TO    THEM. WHITE   LABOR   WILL   IN   TIME   ASSUME   ITS    OWN 

DOMAINS,  INCLUDING  VIRGINIA,  KENTUCKY,  AND  MISSOURI. — SLA- 
VERY LIMITED  TO  ITS  LEGITIMATE  THEATRE. HYPOCRISY  OF  ENG- 
LAND.—  HER  SELFISH  PURPOSES  AND  CRAFTY  POLICY.  —  ANTI-SLAVERY 

MISREPRESENTATIONS    PUBLISHED    IN   AMERICA   BY    BRITISH     GOLD. 

THE   ABOMINABLE    WICKEDNESS    OF   SUCH   FALSE    REPRESENTATIONS. 

FALSE  VIEWS  OF  NEGROES  INCULCATED.  —  SLAVEHOLDERS  TRADUCED, 
ETC. 

THE  application  for  admission  into  the  Union  by  Mis- 
souri aroused  into  action  the  gradually  increasing  anti- 
slavery  feeling  of  the  North.  The  rights  or  wrongs  of 
the  question,  as  tried  by  principles  of  constitutional 
law,  had  not  been  considered  ;  but  the  moral  wrong  of 
slavery  in  the  abstract  had  been  largely  discussed  in 
the  forum  of  conscience,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  man 
in  the  country  not  ready,  guided  solely  by  his  senti- 
ments, to  act  decisively  in  the  matter.  Questions  of 
constitutional  law,  in  connection  with  slavery,  have  since 
been  canvassed  by  the  people,  and  a  somewhat  sounder 
doctrine  attained  by  the  more  intelligent  and  conserva- 
tive portion  of  the  community.  Although  there  have 
always  been  multitudes  opposed  to  the  admission  of 
any  more  slave  states,  the  more  intelligent,  reasonable, 


160  A   HISTORY   OP 

and  just  portion  of  the  Northern  people  have  been  dis- 
posed to  recognize  the  right  of  the  states  to  be  admitted 
to  act  their  own  pleasure  in  the  adoption  of  their  do- 
mestic institutions. 

As  the  anti-slavery  party  of  the  North,  which  imbibed 
its  sentiments  from  the  anti-slavery  societies  of  Eng- 
land and  America,  has,  for  the  last  few  years,  received 
a  rapid  growth,  and  is  threatening  a  commanding  posi- 
tion in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  the  wisdom  and  jus- 
tice of  its  principles  ought  to  be  examined  and  weighed 
by  that  portion  of  the  American  people  capable  of  dis- 
passionate judgment.  The  pretensions  of  this  party  are 
extremely  assuming,  as  it  arrogates  to  itself  religion, 
humanity,  and  virtue.  In  its  political  warfare  it  so 
much  resembles  the  old  crusades,  that  its  object  seems 
to  be  rather  a  battle  for  religious  faith,  than  a  contest 
for  political  rights.  And  then,  again,  its  leading  spirits 
appear  too  contemptuous  and  defiant  for  sincere  Chris- 
tians, and  their  demeanor  and  exhibitions  of  temper 
anything  but  saint-like.  However,  as  the  literature  of 
Old  and  New  England  has  for  years  breathed  a  hatred 
for  slavery,  which  has  had  its  effects  upon  millions  of 
Americans,  the  anti-slavery  champions,  though  wolves 
in  sheep's  clothing,  are  loved  and  adored  "  for  their 
cause."  Gullibility  is  an  attribute,  or  quality,  of  a 
goodly  number  of  the  human  family,  and  no  portion  is 
easier  duped  than  that  which  professes  superior  sanc- 
tity, benevolence,  and  humanity. 

That  a  political  party  based  on  the  question  of  slavery 
could  exist  in 'this  country,  would  seem  strange  to  an 
indifferent  and  intelligent  spectator.  To  be  effectual,  it 
must  subvert  the  Constitution.  Such  a  party  is  essen- 
tially hostile  to  our  government.  Many  of  the  more 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  161 

intelligent  and  daring,  and  probably  more  honest,  of  the 
anti-slavery  party,  openly  proclaim  their  object  to  be 
the  overthrow  of  the  Constitution.  The  pretence  that  a 
political  party,  based  on  slavery  ideas,  can  wish  to 
accomplish  anything  short  of  the  object  of  those  ultra- 
ists,  is  an  absurdity.  Those  who  proclaim  disunion 
openly  are  eyed  with  distant  but  cautious  reserve  by 
the  other  sort  of  anti-slavery  people.  These  last  have 
a  mighty  work  upon  their  hands,  and,  in  its  accomplish- 
ment, enlist  a  large  share  of  the  pious  and  good.  No 
man  was  ever  yet  ready  to  see  himself  in  the  light  of  a 
dupe,  nor  willing,  when  the  discovery  should  be  made, 
to  acknowledge  himself  such.  Conceit  is  a  fatal  defect 
in  the  composition  of  man,  and  binds  him  to  error  more 
powerfully  than  any  other  passion.  If  men  were  more 
inclined  to  question  the  perfection  of  their  own  ideas,  — 
were  more  disposed  to  distrust  the  correctness  of  their 
conclusions,  and  the  propriety  of  their  course  of  action,— 
knaves  and  hypocrites  would  find  less  encouragement 
for  their  craft,  and  free  institutions  repose  on  a  firmer 
basis. 

In  the  nature  of  things  an  anti-slavery  party  must  be 
a  sectional  one,  the  tendencies  of  which  can  be  nothing 
but  strife  and  civil  war.  But  let  the  real  tendency  of  a 
party  be  what  it  may,  if  it  make  captivating  professions, 
it  will  draw  into  its  bosom  the  unthinking  multitude, 
especially  if  led  by  persons  of  some  popularity.  Large 
masses  of  the  Northern  people  have  had  instilled  into 
their  minds  the  idea  that  they  have  something  to  accom- 
plish politically  in  regard  to  slavery.  They  think  this 
is  to  be  done,  not  in  subversion  of,  but  under,  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  A  more  dangerous  error 
they  could  not  well  embrace,  and  they  must  eradicate 


162  A  HISTORY   OF 

it  from  their  hearts,  or  entail  it,  with  civil  war  and 
anarchy,  upon  their  posterity.  When  that  Constitution 
was  adopted,  all  that  the  people  could  do,  with  regard 
to  slavery,  was  at  an  end.  Every  attempt  since  made 
by  anti-slavery  people  has  resulted  against  the  cause  of 
negro  humanity,  and  been  in  subserviency  to  the  great 
design  of  England  to  produce  a  dismemberment  of  the 
Union.  And  what  do  the  great  mass  of  the  Northern 
people  really  and  candidly  claim  in  regard  to  the  ques- 
tion ?  They  say,  first,  they  do  not  wish  to  disturb 
slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists.  Secondly,  they 
do  not  think  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  the  South  a 
practicable  or  advisable  act,  providing  the  power  were 
granted  ;  that  the  three  millions  of  ignorant,  stupid, 
and  indolent  negroes  would  be  a  nuisance  to  themselves 
and  the  country,  if  set  at  liberty.  But,  thirdly,  they  say, 
their  eyes  in  frenzy  rolling,  "  no  further  extension  of 
slave  territory. "  This  is  the  great  party  war-cry  of  the 
present  day,  as  it  was  of  1820. 

The  greatest  objection  to  this  cry  is  that  it  is  sense- 
less. That  this  country  should  be  divided  into  two 
great  parties  on  such  a  proposition  —  divided  in  a  man- 
ner to  endanger  its  peace  and  perpetuity  —  is  absolute 
madness.  Men  of  common  sense  must  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  negroes  increase  with  rapidity,  and  that, 
while  in  servitude  at  least,  this  increase  will  continue. 
From  about  half  a  million  in  It 90,  their  number  had  in- 
creased to  about  three  millions  in  1850  ;  nearly  doubling 
once  in  fifteen  years.  At  this  rate,  in  1865  there  will 
be  six  millions,  and  in  1880  twelve  millions,  and  twenty- 
five  millions  in  1900.  The  fact  of  their  increase  cannot 
be  avoided,  and  must  bring  along  with  it  consequences 
that  should  be  provided  for  by  the  statesman.  The 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  163 

philanthropist  should  be  humane.  He  must  see  that 
either  now,  or  at  some  near  future  day,  unless  he  be  a 
demon,  he  will  demand  one  of  two  things, — either  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  the  states  where  they  are, 
and  their  transportation  to  Africa,  or  the  provision  of 
new  territories  for  their  labor.  No  one  would  wish, 
fifty  years  hence,  to  see  millions  of  negroes  in  a  few 
Southern  States  doomed  to  wretchedness  and  starvation. 
Or,  does  the  philanthropist  think  that,  by  confining  them 
to  a  few  and  fast  impoverishing  states,  the  masters  will 
soon  be  compelled  to  set  their  negroes  free  ?  But  what, 
in  such  an  event,  would  become  of  these  wretched  be- 
ings ?  When  the  white  man  can  no  longer  pake  his 
labor  profitable,  and  be  able  to  take  care  of  him,  will 
the  negro  be  able,  if  turned  adrift,  to  take  care  of  him- 
self? If  slavery  is  hateful,  and  it  is  desirable  that  it 
should  cease  in  the  states  where  now  existing,  is  it  a 
reasonable,  a  manly,  a  Christian,  or  a  humane  design  to 
seek  to  confine  it  in  a  particular  locality  until  it  shall 
expire  by  the  force  of  starvation  ?  Suppose  we  admit, 
with  the  fanatic,  that  the  white  man  of  the  South  is  of 
no  account,  and  that  his  destruction,  in  such  a  catas- 
trophe, is  not  to  be  regarded  or  regretted ;  does  such  an 
issue  of  slavery  promise  anything  for  the  slave  ?  The 
cotton  and  sugar  plantations  of  the  old  states  may 
become  exhausted  and  sterile,  while  in  the  South-west 
will  be  rich  and  untouched  tracts  of  soil  capable  of  sup- 
porting millions  of  negroes  in  abundance  and  comfort ; 
but  the  Northern  philanthropist  is  ready  to  forbid  its 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  those  degraded  beings.  No  ; 
insane  with  a  single  idea,  he  thinks  the  increase  of 
slave  territory  is  an  increase  of  slaves.  This,  in  one 
sense,  is  so.  As  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  negro 
15 


164  A   HISTORY   OF 

• 

are  increased,  lie  increases  in  numbers.  But  who  can  be 
called  a  philanthropist  that  would  abridge  the  negro's 
comforts  in  order  to  render  him  less  prolific,  and  extin- 
guish slavery  by  destroying  the  race  ?  And  yet,  at 
what  else  is  enlightened  and  philanthropic  New  England, 
under  the  guide  of  Old  England,  driving  ?  What  does 
she  mean  by  her  insane  cry  of  no  more  slave  territory  ? 
If  she  means  to  exclude  slavery  from  territory  adapted 
to  white  labor,  she  may  hush  her  cry  of  alarm.  White 
labor  will  in  time  take  care  of  itself.  The  negro  has  no 
protective  tariff  for  his  labor,  but  a  skin  that  will  endure 
a  tropical  sun. 

The  Missouri  question  brought  to  light  the  anti-slavery 
feeling  of  the  North,  the  extent  and  degree  of  intensity 
of  which  took  the  world  by  surprise.  Its  first  manifes- 
tation was  to  strike  down  the  constitutional  rights  of 
new  states.  The  anti-slavery  sentiment  has  increased 
greatly  since  1820  ;  but  no  conservative  anti-slavery 
statesman  even  now  disputes  the  right  of  new  states  to 
shape  their  institutions  to  suit  themselves ;  and  none 
but  factious  sectionalists  and  fanatics  take  the  position, 
occupied  by  the  North  at  the  time  of  the  Missouri  con- 
troversy, that  the  general  government  should  dictate  in 
the  matter.  There  are  probably  vast  numbers  in  the 
North,  at  the  present  day,  who  stand  on  the  ground  taken 
in  1820  ;  but  they  are  not  the  intelligent  and  patriotic 
portion  of  the  Northern  people.  Subsequent  agitations 
have  brought  the  Constitution  to  view,  and  its  plain 
provisions  have  had  weight  with  the  honest  and  consid- 
erate ;  but  as  upright,  patriotic,  and  conservative  states- 
men are  losing  their  influence  with  the  masses  ;  as  the 
teachings  of  such  men  as  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madi- 
son, Adams,  Benton,  Clay,  and  Webster,  among  the 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  165 

dead,  and  of  Buchanan,  Crittenden,  Everett,  and  Fill- 
more,  among  the  living,  are  no  longer  regarded  by  the 
multitude,  who  prefer  the  excited  and  revolutionary 
doctrines  of  a  new  class  of  politicians  who  claim  to  be 
governed  by  a  higher  law  than  constitutions,  —  no  one 
can  tell  how  soon  the  sectional  strife,  so  long  cherished 
by  British  writers,  arid  promulgated  by  British  gold, 
may  ripen  into  civil  war.  The  position  of  the  North  in 
1820  was  so  clearly  in  defiance  of  Southern  and  state 
rights,  that  a  reaction,  especially  among  the  more  up- 
right and  intelligent  of  the  Northern  people,  soon  ensued. 
This  reaction  was  felt,  to  a  great  extent,  amongst  the 
people.  The  political  leaders  of  those  days  were  dis- 
posed to  be  guided  by  principles  of  constitutional  law, 
and  their  influence  was  such  that  a  radical  abolitionist 
found  for  a  while  but  little  favor  in  the  land.* 

England  watched  the  course  of  events  in  the  United 
States  with  profound  interest.  She  early  saw  that  the 

*  While  the  political  leaders,  of  whom  mention  is  made,  comprising 
such  men  as  Clay,  Webster,  Calhoun,  Benton,  etc.,  were  upon  the 
stage  of  action,  the  abolition  leaders  were  greatly  depressed  by  the 
weight  of  their  influence.  Hence  the  feeling  of  relief,  in  short,  exulta- 
tion, at  the  decease  of  those  eminent  statesmen.  We  were  told  that 
the  Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher,  some  few  years  ago,  in  a  lecture  at  North- 
field,  in  this  state  (Vermont),  set  forth  and  inculcated  the  idea  that  it 
is  fortunate  for  the  country  that  such  great  men  as  Clay  and  Webster 
have  passed  away,  as  their  weight  and  influence  with  the  people  had 
a  tendency  to  close  the  popular  mind  to  the  teachings  of  others,  and 
retard  the  march  of  useful  reformations.  The  feeling  of  the  reverend 
gentleman  is  perfectly  natural.  We  have  read  of  the  poet  who 
regretted  the  existence  of  such  authors  as  Shakspeare  and  Milton,  as, 
were  it  not  for  the  admiration  of  the  people  for  them,  his  own  pro- 
ductions would  be  regarded.  And  people  now  will  applaud  in  Fan- 
euil  Hall  what  would  not  have  been  listened  to  there  twenty  years 
ago. 


166  A   HISTORY    OF 

solution  of  the  great  question  of  Democracy,  in  this 
country,  was  involved  in  the  slavery  question.  From 
a  crushing  tyrant,  and  a  relentless  oppressor,  she 
at  once  became  the  champion  of  negro  freedom,  and, 
Peter-the-Hermit-like,  preached  and  intrigued  for  it 
throughout  the  world.  Her  leading  anti-slavery  charac- 
ters have  ever  held  intercourse  with  American  agitators, 
and  subscriptions  in  England  have  been  freely  made  to 
forward  the  cause  of  humanity  in  the  United  States. 
Her  sincerity  has  been  proved  to  Americans  by  her 
voluntary  emancipation  of  her  slaves  in  the  West  Indies, 
which  cost  her  not  much  less  than  a  hundred  million  of 
dollars ;  and  this  country  never  saw  any  but  motives 
of  humanity  in  the  glorious  act !  It  is  true,  all  see  that 
Britain's  oppression  of  her  own  children  at  home,  where 
a  powerful  monarchy,  and  a  cold-blooded  and  crushing 
aristocracy,  or  nobility,  extinguish  the  last  lingering 
hope  of  freedom  and  happiness  ;  and  that  her  merciless 
and  despotic  subjugation,  robbery,  and  slavery,  of  scores 
of  millions  of  unoffending  East  Indians,  are  not  exactly 
consistent  with  her  professions  of  regard  for  negro 
liberty  ;  but  the  magnanimous  American  philanthropist 
is  never  disposed  to  analyze  the  motives  of  an  act  that 
seems  to  bear  evidence  in  favor  of  his  own  merit,  and 
to  add  to  his  own  and  the  glory  of  his  hobby. 

The  teachings  of  England,  both  by  precept  and  ex- 
ample, are  now  beginning  to  be  appreciated.  Her 
policy,  as  demonstrated  by  experience,  is  false  not  only 
in  its  ostensible,  but  also  in  its  secret  theory.  Her 
project  of  subverting  American  slavery  by  her  contem- 
plated system  of  Africanizing  the  West  Indies,  will 
never  prove  successful,  unless,  indeed,  her  influence  in 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  167 

the  North  shall  overbalance  the  conservative  and  con- 
stitutional sentiment  of  the  Union.  To  bind  the  North 
to  her  policy  it  is  necessary  that  the  agitation  of  slavery 
should  continue  ;  and  to  keep  this  agitation  alive,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  sentiments  of  Northern  people  should 
be  properly  educated.  She  understands  well  enough 
that  the  great  battles  of  the  world  are  more  controlled 
by  ideas  than  by  guns  and  bayonets.  Without  the 
employment  of  her  writers  and  speakers  in  the  unprin- 
cipled work  of  blackening  the  character  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  by  falsely  charging  him  with  every  debauch- 
ery and  crime  imaginable,  the  English  people  would 
never  have  sustained  the  British  government  in  its  years 
of  war,  and  its  expenditure  of  countless  millions,  and 
sacrifice  of  thousands  of  soldiers,  to  maintain  legitimacy, 
and  restore  a  Bourbon  to  his  throne.  The  struggle  was 
noble  in  the  British  monarchy,  because  the  monarchical 
system  of  Europe  requires  mutual  support  in  such 
cases,  the  non-observance  of  which  would  riot  only  be 
fatal  as  an  example,  but  infamous  as  a  breach  of  faith. 
The  British  government  schools  her  own  people  con- 
stantly to  sentiments  calculated  to  promote  her  domestic 
and  foreign  policy.  Fortunately  for  herself,  she  thinks, 
she  finds  America  a  promising  pupil,  over  whose  destiny 
she  can  exefcise  control.  It  becomes  a  religious  people 
that  they  should  cherish  peace  ;  therefore  we  are  taught 
not  to  meddle  with  the  wars  of  the  world.  It  is  unbe- 
coming a  Christian  people  so  to  do  ;  and  England  herself 
never  goes  to  war  !  Free  trade  is,  and  for  years  has 
been,  most  extensively  inculcated  among  Americans  by 
England,  and  to  promote  free-trade  doctrines  in  the 
United  States,  it  is  well  known  that  British  gold  has 
been  liberally  used.  The  preaching  here,  too,  must  be 
15* 


168  A    HISTORY   OF 

sincere,  as  probably  England  never  cripples  her  import- 
ations with  duties  !  That  she  should  instruct  Northern 
people  to  detest  slavery  is  no  more  than  should  be  ex- 
pected. Her  tactics  have  not  always  been  the  most 
just  and  honorable  ;  but  they  have  been  based  on  neces- 
sity, and,  as  in  the  case  of  slandering  Napoleon,  justi- 
fiable on  the  easy  moral  principle  that  the  end  sanctifies 
the  means. 

The  Northern  men,  women,  and  children,  who  weep 
over  the  woes  of  the  enslaved  sons  of  Africa,  little  sus- 
pect how  entirely  delusive  and  unreal  are  the  causes  of 
their  tears.  They  only  know  that  they  have  seen  the 
true  accounts  of  slave  tortures  in  veracious  books,  and 
read  them  in  papers  ;  and  they  are  sure  that  slaves  are 
innocent  victims,  and  the  masters  monsters.  Frightful 
cases  of  the  cruelty  of  masters  are  freely  reported. 
Some  years  ago  we  saw  a  pamphlet,  or  book,  profess- 
ing to  give  a  thousand  such  ;  and  the  Key  of  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  is  said  to  give  a  large  assortment  of  that 
kind  of  evidence.  Unfortunately,  human  nature  being 
far  from  angelic,  many  cases  of  cruelty  do  occur.  All 
the  cruelty  in  the  world,  however,  is  not  crowded  into 
the  slave  states  of  America.  Most  diabolical  cases  often 
occur  in  the  North,  and  in  England,  even.  But  the 
abolitionist  will  say  that  in  the  North  such  abuses  are 
not  tolerated  —  that  there  they  are  punished.  And  in 
this  consists  the  cheat  of  abolitionism.  Those  ariti- 
slavery  tracts  and  papers  that  report  cases  of  Southern 
cruelty  to  slaves,  never  mention  the  punishment  in- 
flicted by  Southern  laws  upon  the  wrong-doers.  An 
entirely  false  impression  is  produced  upon  the  minds 
of  the  unthinking  by  such  details  of  outrages,  .gathered 
from  a  large  extent  of  country,  reaching  over  a  series 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  169 

of  years,  and  all  pressed  upon  the  reader  as  evidences 
of  the  treatment  of  slaves  by  their  masters.  If  such 
things  were  permitted  by  law  in  slave  states  the  insti- 
tution would  be  as  barbarous  as  it  was  in  the  ancient 
governments.  But  everybody,  of  any  information  and 
common  sense,  knows  that  the  Southern  people  are  civ- 
ilized, humane,  and  Christian.  That  acts  of  cruelty  to 
slaves  are  punishable  by  Southern  laws,  is  not  only 
true,  but  there  is  also  in  the  South  an  extremely  proper 
public  spirit  in  regard  to  the  obligation  of  masters  to 
use  the  objects  of  their  trust  and  care  with  kindness 
and  humanity.  Perhaps  an  instance  which  fell  under 
our  own  observation  will  illustrate  the  whole  subject. 
In  1839,  in  a  Southern  city,  a  policeman  heard  cries  of 
distress  in  a  building,  and,  on  entering,  found  that  a 
slave  girl  had  been  severely  whipped.  The  stripes  upon 
her  back  were  visible,  in  places  cutting  through  the 
skin,  and-  her  shoes  were  filled  with  blood  which  had 
flowed  from  her  wounds.  The  master  was  at  once  cited 
before  the  police  court.  There  was  not  a  person  to  be 
met  with  who  was  not  filled  with  indignation,  and  the 
tribunal  was  crowded  with  excited  and  indignant  slave- 
holders, as  the  court  visited  the  inhuman  wretch  with 
the  severe  penalties  of  the  law.  But  the  money  he 
was  obliged  to  pay  was  a  small  affair,  an  honorable  man 
would  judge,  compared  with  the  contempt  from  the  vir- 
tuous and  good  that  his  barbarity  drew  upon  him.  The 
newspapers  reported  the  case,  with  proper  comments  on 
the  offence.  But,  in  1842,  the  full  details  of  the  outrage 
were  published,  amongst  others,  in  an  anti-slavery  tract, 
and  circulated  in  the  North,  to  enlighten  Northern  men, 
women,  and  children,  on  the  subject  of  slave  institu- 
tions. The  case  was  published  in  the  "  Thousand 


170  A   HISTORY    OF 

Cases  "  spoken  of,  to  convey  the  idea  that  such  things 
were  practised  generally,  and  tolerated  in  the  South, 
and  no  intimation  was  given  that  such  an  act  was 
regarded  or  treated  as  criminal,  or  that  the  master  in- 
curred any  punishment,  or  rebuke,  on  account  of  his 
conduct.  If  it  is  necessary,  for  the  purposes  of  mon- 
archy, that  the  people  of  the  North  should  be  taught  to 
hate  those  of  the  South,  England  is  right  in  treating 
the  latter  as  she  did  Napoleon,  that  is,  in  lying  about 
and  slandering  them. 

The  ingenuity  of  the  enemies  of  our  country  is  mani- 
fested in  many  ways.  Among  other  resorts  of  such 
persons,  high-wrought  fictions  are  invented,  depicting 
the  anguish  of  fraternal  and  parental  separations.  It  is 
not  supposed  that  the  Southern  people  have  any  com- 
mon understanding  or  practice  of  what  is  most  tolerable 
in  this  matter  ;  they  are  depicted  as  demons,  who  are 
less  influenced  by  interest  than  by  a  native  love  of  acts 
of  atrocity.  Neither  is  any  allowance  made  for  the 
natural  character  of  the  negro.  It  is  not  considered 
that  such  a  thing  as  paternal,  fraternal,  or  marital  rela- 
tionship is  wholly  unknown  to  the  negro  in  his  native 
state.  In  his  African  home,  the  negro,  in  infancy,  may 
have  filial,  and  enjoy  the  smiles  of  parental,  affections. 
There  is  no  animal  that  is  destitute  of  this.  But  in  the 
adult  state,  such  a  thing  as  parent,  or  brother,  or  a  wife, 
is  not  known.  The  existence  of  such  relationships 
amongst  negroes  in  America  is  the  gift  of  slavery,  and 
would  undoubtedly  cease  without  it.  The  only  civiliza- 
tion the  negro  can  ever  sustain  must  be  while  in  connec- 
tion with  the  whites,  and,  unless  in  very  limited  num- 
bers, in  subjection  to  them.  In  Hayti  the  negroes,  since 
their  emancipation,  are  degenerating  into  barbarism. 


THE   WHIG    PARTY*  171 

The  marriage  relation,  tolerably  preserved  in  servitude, 
has  now  become  a  mockery,  and  the  promiscuous  inter- 
course practised  in  Africa  is  prevalent. 

Not  satisfied  with  such  atrocious  misrepresentations 
as  these,  the  amalgamating  abolitionists  of  the  North, 
under  the  pay  arid  management  of  England,  hold  South- 
ern men  up  to  scorn  as  guilty  of  the  grossest  acts  of 
lust  and  debauchery.  Slavery  is  represented  as  a  sys- 
tem of  concubinage  !  That  there  are  many  instances, 
especially  in  the  Southern  cities,  where  the  debased  from 
all  nations  centre,  where  white  and  black  amalgamate, 
is  true  ;  but  the  illicit  intercourse,  taken  as  to  the  whole 
black  and  white  population,  is  not  a  thousandth  time  as 
extensive  as  is  the  same  immoral  practice  carried  on  in 
Northern  states  between  individuals  of  the  purely  white 
race.  So,  if  there  is  any  uncommon  guilt  in  the  people 
of  the  South,  it  is  guilt  in  matters  of  taste  —  in  the 
selection  of  color.  This  should  not  be  considered  a 
reproach  in  the  eyes  of  an  amalgamating  abolitionist  of 
New  or  Old  England  ;  but  consistency  is  not  a  jewel 
when  it  is  the  exception,  and  not  the  rule,  in  one's  prin- 
ciples. Slavery,  since  the  foundation  of  the  world,  has 
been  more  or  less  a  system  of  concubinage,  until  negro 
slavery  came  into  being.  If  the  negroes  were  really 
created  for  slaves,  Providence  provided  for  the  preser- 
vation of  their  virtue,  by  making  them,  in  form  and 
feature,  objects  of  repugnance  and  abhorrence.  Still,  in 
the  imaginations  of  dreaming  Northern  damsels  and 
Jonathans,  negresses  are  painted  as  the  lovely  victims 
of  the  passions  of  brutal  masters,  forced  by  the  lash  to 
submit  to  their  tyrannic  lust  !  And  that  slavery  in  the 
South  is  a  system  of  debauchery  and  crime  is  quite 


172  "    A   HISTORY   OF 

generally   credited   by   England's    easy   dupes   in   the 
North. 

But  the  Missouri  struggle  ended,  in  the  Congress  of 
1820  and  721,  by  a  compromise.  The  Missouri  Com- 
promise, so  called,  is  too  well  known  to  everybody  to 
need  a  description  ;  it  was  an  arrangement  by  which 
the  South  made  concessions,  and  gained  nothing.  The 
admission  of  Missouri  with  slavery  was  her  constitu- 
tional right ;  but,  to  gain  it,  the  South  had  to  yield  the 
right  of  carrying  slavery  into  a  large  portion  of  the 
Territory  of  the  United  States. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  173 


CHAPTER    XYII. 

JOHN   QUINCT  ADAMS    SECRETARY   OP   STATE    UNDER    MONROE. — DESIG- 
NATED  BY  MONROE  FOR  HIS   SUCCESSOR.  —  PRESIDENTIAL  ASPIRANTS. 

—  CONGRESSIONAL  CAUCUS  NOMINATIONS.  — MR.  CRAWFORD'S  NOMINA- 
TION.—  MARTIN   VAN   BUREN,    JACKSON,   AND   CALHOUN. — NO   ELEC- 
TION  BY  THE   PEOPLE.  —  ELECTION  BY  THE  HOUSE.  —  ADAMS  ELECTED 

BY   CLAY     AND    HIS     FRIENDS. PARTY    SPIRIT   REVIVED. FRIENDS 

OF    CLAY     AND   ADAMS     UNITE   IN  A  PARTY.  —  THE  WHIG    PARTY.  — 
JACKSONISM   AND    ITS     SUCCESS. ADMINISTRATION    OF    J.    Q.    ADAMS. 

—  CHANGE   OF   NEW   ENGLAND    ON     QUESTION   OF     TARIFF.  —  CHANGE 
IN    THE    SOUTH.  —  ELECTION     OF     JACKSON.  —  J.    C.    CALHOUN    VICE- 
PRESIDENT,  ETC. 

DURING  the  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  the  coun- 
try for  the  first  time  since  the  administration  of  Wash- 
ington was  free  from  the  bitterness  and  strife  of  political 
parties.  The  second  election  of  Mr.  Monroe  was  without 
any  organized  opposition.  The  old  Federal  party  had 
been  completely  stranded.  The  scattered  elements  of 
that  organization  existed  in  the  country,  but  they  were 
much  dispersed,  and  in  a  great  measure  had  become  ab- 
sorbed in  the  more  liberal  and  enlightened  Republicanism 
which  sprung  up  during  and  after  the  war.  While  the 
measures  advocated  by  Clay,  Lowndes,  Calhoun,  and 
Crawford,  were  embraced  by  the  Republican  party,  there 
was  no  necessity  for  a  Federal  organization,  as  they 
were  generally  Federal  measures  ;  that  is,  they  were 
such  measures  as  Hamilton's  policy  embraced,  although 
not  such  as  leading  Federalists  of  a  later  day  advo- 
cated. 


174  A    HISTORY   OP 

For  a  successor  Mr.  Monroe  had  indicated,  as  his 
favorite,  John  Quiricy  Adams,  by  appointing  him  his 
Secretary  of  State.  Mr.  Adams  was  regarded  as  an  un- 
exceptionable Republican,  or  Democrat,  and  as  such,  Mr. 
Madison,  in  1809,  sent  him  as  Minister  to  Russia.  But 
the  Republicans  were  far  from  being  harmonious  upon 
the  subject  of  the  successorship.  There  were  several 
leading  Democrats,  whose  names  have  been  mentioned, 
who  were  ambitious  for  presidential  honors.  From 
early  times  it  had  been  customary  for  the  members  of 
Congress,  in  caucuses  called  for  the  purpose,  to  nomi- 
nate candidates  for  the  presidency;  but  to, select  a 
candidate  to  succeed  Mr.  Monroe,  that  time-honored 
practice  was,  by  a  majority  of  the  Republican  members 
of  Congress,  departed  from.  It  was  seen  at  once  that 
a  majority  of  the  members  could  not  be  concentrated 
upon  any  one  of  the  aspirants,  and  it  was  therefore 
deemed  unadvisable  to  resort  to  that  machinery  for  a 
candidate.  In  fact,  the  result  of  the  caucus  which  nom- 
inated Mr.  Monroe  to  succeed  Mr.  Madison  excited 
some  surprise,  and  probably  disinclined  many  from  a 
further  resort  to  such  nominations.  It  had  been  the 
general  feeling  of  the  country  that  Mr.  Monroe  was  to 
be  the  candidate  ;  still,  the  industry  of  Mr.  Crawford's 
friends  amongst  the  members  of  Congress  came  near 
securing  him  the  nomination. 

Notwithstanding  the  Republicans,  as  a  general  thing, 
had  resolved  to  make  no  congressional  nomination  for 
the  election  of  1824,  a  portion  of  them,  and  that  portion 
a  considerable  minority,  concluded  to  act  otherwise. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  were  not  disposed  to  abide 
the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  Democratic  congressmen 
in  the  premises,  and,  consequently,  had  a  caucus  called 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  175 

for  the  nomination  of  a  candidate.  Of  course,  only  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  attended,  and  his  name  was 
duly  heralded  to  the  country  as  the  regularly  nominated 
candidate  of  the  party,  in  the  mode  in  which  candidates 
had  usually  been  put  forth  in  previous  times.  Of  the 
two  hundred  and  sixty-one  members,  Mr.  C.  received  the 
votes  of  sixty-four,  those  being  the  only  members  who 
attended  the  convention  ;  but,  as  no  congressional  nom- 
ination of  the  Republicans  had  ever  been  defeated,  Mr. 
Crawford's  friends  made  great  calculations  on  the  move- 
ment. The  person  who  engineered  this  operation  wafs 
Martin  Van  Buren,  senator  from  the  State  of  New 
York.  Mr.  Van  Bureri's  subsequent  history  is  well 
known,  and  many  will  say  that  the  course  taken  by  him 
in  regard  to  Mr.  Crawford's  nomination  was  character- 
istic. But  that  gentleman's  day  of  political  expecta- 
tions is  past,  and  it  would  not  be  decorous  to  bring 
forward  unnecessarily  any  of  his  acts  which  would  be 
likely  to  revive  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  forgotten 
animosities.  All  know  that  he  was  a  successful  politi- 
cian ;  and  although  he  may  have  been  indebted  much  to 
his  intrigues  for  his  triumphs,  he  was  by  no  means  so 
big  an  ignoramus,  nor  so  enormous  a  knave,  as  depicted 
by  his  political  opponents  in  1840. 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  it  was  said,  was  a  Federalist  during 
the  early  part  of  the  late  war  with  England,  and  sup- 
ported Clinton,  the  peace  candidate,  against  Mr.  Madi- 
son. However,  he  soon  was  found  in  the  Republican 
ranks,  and  was  justly  regarded  as  an  able  and  long- 
headed politician.  His  enemies  have  charged  him 
with  always  adapting  himself  with  great  versatility  to 
popular  principles,  instead,  like  Washington,  Hamilton, 
Madison,  Clay,  and  Webster,  of  striving  to  make  the 
16 


176  A   HISTORY   OF 

public  mind  bend  to  such  principles  and  measures  as 
the  public  good  should  require.  If  these  charges  were 
correct,  they  only  establish  his  shrewdness.  It  was  the 
only  manner  in  which  he  could  win  honors  and  gain 
office  from  the  people.  It  is  possible  that  Mr.  Van 
Buren  never  aspired  to  the  honors  of  high  statesman- 
ship,—  that  success  in  political  life  was  all  he  sought. 
If  so,  he  showed  himself  master  of  his  art,  and  attained 
what  much  greater  and  better  men  could  not  accom- 
plish. Let  no  man  who  desires  to  rise  to  high  office  in 
a  popular  government,  ever  dare  to  express  sentiments 
distasteful  to  popular  prejudice.  The  theory  of  Demo- 
cratic governments  is  that  the  people  are  always  right, 
and  that  the  statesman  who  shall  advocate  measures 
not  in  accordance  with  the  popular  opinion,  must  not 
be  trusted  nor  honored.  Washington  was  elected 
President,  it  is  true  ;  but  he  left  the  office  with  dis- 
honor in  the  minds  of  many.  It  happened  to  be  the 
good  fortune  of  Jefferson  honestly  to  possess  political 
principles  and  opinions  exceedingly  flattering  to  the 
feelings  of  the  generality ;  and  it  should  not  be  said 
that  he  espoused  them  for  popular  effect.  He  lived 
at  a  period  when  his  peculiar  principles  were  of  vital 
necessity,  and  history  shows  him  to  have  been  a  public 
benefactor.  Madison  and  Monroe  were  considered  the 
exponents  of  Jeffersonian  Democracy,  and,  under  the 
shelter  of  the  Jeffersonian  dynasty,  administered  the 
government  with  an  independence  not  equalled  by  any 
subsequent  administration. 

But  since  those  eminent  statesmen  occupied  the 
presidential  chair,  what  have  been  the  men  our  people 
have  delighted  to  honor  with  the  proud  title  of  Presi- 
dent ?  We  should  except  from  slighting  remarks 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  177 

heroes  who  fought  so  bravely  for  their  county,  — 
Jackson,  Harrison,  arid  Taylor,  —  for,  although  not 
statesmen,  nor  versed  in  public  affairs,  they  were 
patriots  and  good  men,  and  the  honors  accorded  to 
them  were  merited.  But  experience,  wisdom,  virtue, 
sound  statesmanship,  and  manly  independence,  have  not 
received  favor  from  the  people.  Politicians  have  had 
the  public  ear,  filled  the  popular  eye,  and  enjoyed  our 
suffrages,  almost  without  an  exception.  It  ill  befits  us, 
therefore,  to  inveigh  against  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  being 
a  mere  politician,  until  we  can  show  ourselves  capable 
of  appreciating  and  rewarding  political  virtues  of  a 
higher  order. 

The  candidates,  with  the  exception  of  Jackson,  were 
all  able  and  experienced  statesmen.  The  appearance 
of  this  gentleman  in  the  field  was,  at  the  time,  thought 
by  the  other  candidates  to  be  a  piece  of  presumptuous- 
ness.  They  could  scarcely  believe  that  the  general  was 
serious.  He  was  known  to  be  a  brave  general,  and  had 
immortalized  his  name  by  his  victory  at  New  Orleans  ; 
but,  as  he  was  entirely  the  reverse  of  all  the  other 
candidates  as  to  statesmanship,  and  had  often  previously, 
in  declining  offices,  frankly  acknowledged  his  incompe- 
tency,  and  had  been  noted  for  his  aptitude  for  camp  and 
border  life,  rather  than  employment  in  cabinets,  it  was 
thought  hardly  reasonable  that  he  should  claim,  as  the 
reward  of  one  fortunate  battle,  elevation  to  the  presi- 
dency. But,  nevertheless,  his  appearance  in  the  field  as 
a  competitor  was  immediately  found  to  be  no  insignifi- 
cant affair.  Mr.  Calhoun  at  once  took  himself  out  of  the 
way,  and  was  placed  upon  the  Jackson  ticket  as  candi- 
date for  Vice-President.  Eastern  people  entertained  a 
sectional  preference  for  Adams,  and  the  West  and 


178  A   HISTORY   OF 

South  were  contended  for  by  the  three  other  candidates. 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  influence  was  recognized,  and  Craw- 
ford's friends  trusted  to  him  to  secure  New  York  for 
their  candidate.  He  certainly  made  a  powerful  effort 
for  this,  but  without  success.  The  state  cast  two-thirds 
of  her  electoral  votes  for  Mr.  Adams,  and  sealed  the 
fate  of  Mr.  Crawford.  The  encouraging  prospects  of 
Mr.  Clay  were  blighted  by  the  popularity  of  Jackson 
in  the  Western  and  some  of  the  Southern  States.  The 
canvass  became  animated  ;  but  it  was  a  contention  for 
preference  among  four  candidates  enjoying  the  same 
political  principles,  or,  at  least,  belonging  to  the  same 
party. 

As  had  been  expected,  there  was  no  election  by  the 
people.  Jackson  received  ninety-nine  votes,  Adams 
eighty-eight,  Crawford  forty-one,  and  Clay  thirty-seven  ; 
consequently  the  election  by  the  House  was  limited  to 
the  three  first  named.  The  election  in  the  House 
came  off  early  in  1825,  and  was  intensely  exciting. 
Mr.  Clay  was  no  longer  in  the  field,  and  it  was  seen 
that  he  and  his  friends  would  have  the  power  of  decid- 
ing the  contest  between  the  other  candidates.  Of 
course  Mr.  Crawford  stood  no  chance,  saving  in  case  of 
some  scarcely  expected  turn  of  affairs,  as  in  event  the 
friends  of  Adams  or  Jackson  should  be  obliged  to  select 
him  as  a  Hobson's  choice.  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Crawford 
were  friends,  and  Mr.  Crawford's  friends  entertained 
hopes  of  obtaining  the  support  of  the  former  and  of  his 
adherents  ;  but  a  recent  stroke  of  the  paralysis  inca- 
pacitated the  latter  for  the  duties  of  the  office,  and 
Mr.  Clay  had  no  alternative  but  to  vote  for  Jackson  or 
Adams.  Of  his  repugnance  to  the  support  of  Jackson, 
Mr.  Clay  had  never  made  any  secret ;  and  when  the 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  179 

controversy  became  narrowed  down  to  Jackson  and 
Adams,  the  Kentucky  statesman  had  no  hesitation  in 
giving  his  support  to  the  latter. 

The  result  of  this  election  revived  the  bitterness  of 
party  spirit.  At  once  the  hostility  between  the  Adams 
and  Jackson  men  became  fiercer  and  more  irreconcil- 
able than  that  which  formerly  raged  between  the  old 
John  Adams  and  Jefferson  parties.  The  Crawford  and 
Calhoun  parties  became  absorbed  by  Jackson's  ;  and 
Mr.  Clay's  friends  supported  Mr.  Adams.  And  thus 
was  formed  the  party  organization,  which,  although  at 
first  called  National  Republican,  afterwards  took  the 
name  of  Whig,  and  which  continued  a  powerful,  con- 
servative, and  national  party  until  the  presidential 
election  of  1852. 

Electioneering,  after  the  election  to  the  presidency  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  took  a  new  form,  as  well  as  a  new 
spirit.  But  the  Jackson  campaigns  are  too  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  most  people  to  need  description  here.  On 
one  side  were  paraded,  on  banners,  hickory  brooms  and 
other  devices  ;  on  the  other,  in  derision,  coffin-hand- 
bills, gambling  implements,  and  fighting  cocks.  Jack- 
son was  regarded  by  the  masses  as  the  true  representa- 
tive of  the  Jeffersonian  Democracy,  and  Adams  was 
at  once  placed  under  the  ban  of  Federalism.  The 
greater  part  of  the  old  Federalists,  it  is  true,  sup- 
ported him  ;  but  his  party  also  received  into  its  ranks 
many  who  had  been  born  and  bred  Republicans  or 
Democrats. 

The  mystery  of  Jacksonism  was  not  at  that  day,  nor 

is  it  now,  really  known.     A  party  of  greater  vitality, 

energy  and  enthusiasm,  was  scarcely  ever  known.     The 

hero  of  New  Orleans  was  one  of  those  men  who  seemed 

16* 


180  A   HISTORY    OF 

born  to  command.  Unqualified  obedience  to  the  chief 
was  a  test  of  true  Democracy.  No  matter  how  learned, 
experienced,  wise,  talented  and  prominent,  he  might  be, 
no  statesman,  politician,  office-holder  or  editor,  in  the 
Democratic  ranks,  could  retain  his  standing  a  moment, 
if  he  should  incur  a  frown  from  that  singular  man.  His 
will  was  law  to  his  party,  and  that  party  became  the 
country.  Never  did  Cromwell  rule  England  with  more 
absolute  power  than  General  Jackson  governed  the 
United  States.  Of  course  there  were,  and  always  will 
be,  different  opinions  as  to  the  merits  of  his  administra- 
tion ;  but  no  one  at  the  present  day  doubts  the  exalted 
patriotism  of  that  hero.  If  there  were,  in  his  adminis- 
tration, any  errors,  they  were  errors  of  the  head,  not 
of  the  heart. 

The  Adams,  or  Federal,  or  Whig  party  was  over- 
whelmed by  the  new-born  Democratic  power.  Every 
one  has  heard  of  the  famous  calumny,  charging  a  bar- 
gain between  Adams  and  Clay,  and  no  one  at  this  day 
doubts  its  monstrous  injustice,  not  to  say  wickedness. 
But  the  credit  that  that  improbable  charge  obtained 
was  attributable  to  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  times. 
As  the  fury  of  the  blind  and  idolatrous  party  spirit  of 
those  times  abated,  and  men  began  to  exercise  their 
reason  and  consciences,  more  justice  was  done  to  the 
Whigs  who  dared  to  take  a  stand  against  the  prevailing 
power  of  the  day.  At  this  day  neither  John  Quincy 
Adams  nor  Henry  Clay  needs  any  vindication  from  the 
charges  they  were  made  to  suffer  under  during  the 
Jackson  administration,  and  therefore  the  particulars  of 
that  calumny  need  not  be  brought  forth  from  the  obscu- 
rity to  which  their  infamy  consigns  them. 

The  administration  of  Mr.   Adams    has    ever   been 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  181 

regarded  a  model  of  dignity,  economy  and  purity. 
There  was  scarcely  any  proscriptiveness  in  his  appoint- 
ments to  office.  In  the  main,  his  administration  was 
based  on  such  Republican  principles  as  had  been  enter- 
tained by  Madison  and  Monroe ;  and,  in  the  presiden- 
tial campaign  of  1828,  the  contest  seemed  to  be  in 
regard  to  men,  rather  than  touching  measures,  or  prin- 
ciples. It  is  true,  Jackson  was  put  forth  as  the  embod- 
iment of  Jeffersonian  Democracy,  and  Adams  was 
characterized  as  tainted  with  Federal  blood.  It  was 
during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  that  the  policy 
of  protection  reached  its  culminating  point,  as  the 
tariff  o*f  1828  was  the  last  enactment  for  protection, 
intended  as  such,  ever  made  by  our  government. 
During  Madison's  administration  the  West  and  South 
had  favored  protection,  as  a  measure  demanded  by  the 
best  interests  of  the  whole  country.  The  ability  arid 
patriotism  of  the  eminent  Republicans  who  demon- 
strated the  necessity  and  policy  of  protection  were 
commanding  •  and,  on  reading  the  discussions  of  those 
days,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Republican  statesmen 
kept  in  view  sound  principles  of  political  economy, 
rather  than  party  or  sectional  ideas.  In  the  East  all 
acts  for  protection  had  been  opposed,  as  it  was  con- 
sidered that  such  measures  would  put  a  restraint  on 
commerce.  Webster  had  voted  and  made  speeches 
pgainst  the  tariff  of  1824;  but  sustained  the  act  of  1828. 
The  election  of  Adams  by  the  aid  of  Mr.  Clay,  who  was 
the  champion  of  the  American  system,  as  it  was  called, 
had  no  doubt  some  effect  in  reconciling  Mr.  Adams'  New 
England  friends  to  the  doctrine  of  protection  ;  and  as, 
under  the  prior  tariff  acts,  New  England  had  begun  to 
invest  capital  in  manufactures,  a  continuance  of  the 


182  A   HISTORY   OF 

protective  system  was  deemed  necessary,  and  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act  of  1828  required,  as  in  a  measure  per- 
fecting that  system.  Mr.  Webster  at  this  time  had  but 
recently  taken  his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
The  large  mass  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation  in  the 
House  voted  against  the  tariff  of  1828.  The  tariff  of 
1824  received  less  support  from  the  extreme  Southern 
States  than  did  the  tariff  of  1816,  and  the  act  of  1828 
was  quite  earnestly  opposed  by  some  Southern  states- 
men. The  most  of  the  leading  Republicans  had  ap- 
proved of  the  doctrine  of  protection,  and  such  men  as 
Jackson,  R.  M.  Johnson,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Martin 
Van  Buren,  Silas  Wright,  and  James  Buchanan*,  were 
found  voting  for  the  tariffs  of  1824  and  1828. 

The  passage  of  the  tariff  bill  of  1828  increased  the 
Southern  opposition  to  the  Adams  and  Clay  administra- 
tion, as  portions  of  the  South  at  that  time  had  begun  to 
look  upon  the  doctrine  of  protection  as  injurious  to 
Southern  interests.  Parties  had  not,  it  is  true,  made 
the  question  a  matter  of  political  test.  Jackson, 
although  he  had  voted  for  the  tariff  of  1824,  was  sup- 
ported for  the  presidency,  in  the  campaign  of  1828,  by 
the  free-trade  portion  of  the  Southern  people  ;  but  sub- 
sequent events  soon  rendered  the  question  of  protec- 
tion a  party  test. 

Mr.  Adams,  as  has  been  said,  adopted  the  conciliatory 
policy.  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  a  competitor  for  the 
presidency,  accepted  the  Secretaryship  of  State.  An- 
other powerful  rival,  Mr.  Crawford,  was  offered  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  War  ;  but,  as  he  declined,  a  friend 
of  his,  Mr.  Barbor,  was  placed  in  that  department.  Mr. 
McLean,  a  Jacksonian,  was  made  Postmaster  General. 
But  the  mild  policy  of  Mr.  Adarns  had  but  little  effect 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  183 

towards  conciliating  the  opposition  which  his  vigorous 
enemies  had  aroused  against  him.  No  sooner  had  Mr. 
Clay  manifested  his  preference  for  Mr.  Adams,  and,  by 
accepting  the  secretaryship  under  him,  united  his  party 
with  that  of  the  administration,  than,  as  a  necessary 
result,  a  fusion  of  the  other  two  parties  took  place. 
Through  large  portions  of  the  country  the  Jackson 
fever  swept  like  a  prairie  fire.  The  hero  of  New 
Orleans  was  of  course  triumphantly  elected,  receiv- 
ing one  hundred  and  severity-eight  out  of  two  hun- 
dred arid  sixty-one  votes;  Mr.  Adams  receiving  only 
eighty-three.  It  is  true  the  disparity  between  the 
popular  votes  received  by  the  two  candidates  was  not 
so  great ;  but  even  there  the  majority  for  Jackson  was 
signal. 

John  C.  Calhoun  was  elected  Vice-President.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  he  ran  for  Vice-President  on  the  Jackson 
ticket  of  1824,  and  was  not,  like  the  general,  defeated. 
Martin  Van  Burcn  became  Secretary  of  State,  and  was 
probably  the  ablest  statesman,  with  the  exception  of  Cal- 
houn and  Crawford,  that,  in  the  breaking  up  of  the 
Eepublican  party,  adhered  to  the  Jackson  wing.  Cal- 
houn was  for  the  time  being  lodged  in  the  vice-pres- 
idency, and  Crawford's  health  precluded  his  ever  more 
disturbing  the  dreams  of  ambitious  aspirants  to  the 
presidential  chair.  Probably  Jackson  used  the  best 
material  he  had  for  his  cabinet,  at  the  head  of  which 
stood  Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  second  place  was  filled  by 
Samuel  D.  Ingham,  who  was  appointed  to  the  Treasury 
Department.  John  II.  Eaton  was  made  Secretary  of 
War,  John  Branch,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Wm.  L. 
Barry,  Postmaster  General,  and  John  McPherson  Ber- 
rien,  Attorney  General.  At  a  subsequent  period  there 


184  A   HISTORY   OF 

were  changes,  and  such  men  as  Taney,  Woodbury,  and 
Cass,  entered  the  cabinet.  On  account  of  a  rupture 
between  the  President  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  cabinet 
was  soon  remodelled.  Some  further  account  of  this 
may  be  necessary. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  185 


CHAPTEE    XYIII. 

PARTY  PRINCIPLES   UNDERGO  A  CHANGE.  —  WHIGS  ADHERE  TO  THE  MEAS- 
URES   OP    MADISON   AND   MONROE.  —  JACKSON    PROPOSES   TO   RESTORE 

JEFFERSONIAN      PRINCIPLES.  KITCHEN      CABINET.  MARTIN     VAN 

BUREN.  —  NEW  TACTICS.  —  LEADING  DEMOCRATS.  —  WHIGS.  —  MEAS- 
URES OP  THE  WHIGS.  —  POLITICAL  IDOLATRY.  — CAUSES  OP  JACKSON'S 
SUCCESS. 

THE  Jacksonian  Democratic  and  the  Whig  parties 
were  in  many  respects  new  parties.  Both  the  Federal 
and  the  Republican  parties  had  gone  through  changes 
since  their  origin,  and,  although  vast  numbers  of  the 
Federalists  attached  themselves  to  the  Whig  party, 
they  did  not  adopt  any  new  party  principles,  or  other 
than  those  inculcated  by  Madison  and  Monroe.  The 
departure  from  Republican  principles  was  on  the  part  of 
the  Jackson  Democracy.  It  is  true,  the  leaders  of  this 
last-named  party  professed  the  necessity  of  restoring 
the  Republican  principles  of  early  Jeffersonian  Democ- 
racy, as  it  was  thought  there  had  been  a  dangerous 
departure.  Consequently,  Jefferson's  opposition  to  the 
United  States  Bank  was  revived,  and  Jackson,  in  his 
first  annual  message,  announced  his  hostility  to  it.  That 
message  was  a  pretty  carefully  drawn  paper.  As  to 
protection  and  internal  improvement,  it  was  so  worded 
as  to  allow,  without  any  great  violence,  a  construction 
favorable  or  unfavorable  to  these  measures.  That  these 
measures  were  as  anti-Jeffersonian  as  the  bank  policy, 


186  A   HISTORY   OF 

is  true,  as  Jefferson  opposed  many  of  the  measures  pro- 
posed by  his  rival  Hamilton  ;  but  to  denounce  measures 
that  he  had  himself  supported  in  Congress,  was  a  step 
that  even  the  resolute  Jackson  might  well  hesitate  to 
take.  The  position  of  the  message  on  the  navy  was 
also  characteristic,  if  we  are  to  suppose  that  that  state 
paper  was  drawn  by  the  Secretary  of  State.  Jefferson 
had  opposed  the  establishment  of  a  navy.  President 
Jackson's  position  in  regard  to  the  naval  establishment 
was  judicious,  and  sufficiently  restrictive  to  satisfy  the 
somewhat  liberalized  feeling  of  the  Democracy  upon  the 
subject. 

But  the  most  interesting  feature  of  Jackson's  admin- 
istration was  found  in  his  cabinet,  —  Kitchen  Cabinet, 
as  it  was  called  in  its  day.  The  pictures  of  Major  Jack 
Downing  are  too  fresh  in  the  reader's  recollection  to 
justify  an  attempt  at  an  account  of  it.  All  that  need 
be  said  is,  that  it  was  a  brisk  establishment.  We  have, 
perhaps,  no  reliable  disclosures  of  the  secrets  of  that 
cabinet,  as  possibly  Downing's  account  will  hardly  pass 
for  history.  We  can  only  draw  our  surmises  from  re- 
sults or  events.  The  presence  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  that 
domestic  establishment  was  an  undisputed  fact.  His 
connection  with  events,  or  influence  in  their  produc- 
tion, cannot  in  all  cases  be  demonstrated,  because  the 
secrets  of  the  council-chamber  have  never  been  re- 
vealed. Mr.  Benton  was  not  privy  to  the  doings  of  the 
penetralia  or  innermost  recesses  of  the  cabinet,  and 
therefore  his  labored  exculpation,  in  his  Thirty  Years  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  from  in- 
trigues against  Mr.  Calhoun,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as 
decisive  in  the  matter.  Perhaps,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  universal  opinion  at  the  time  should  not  be  con- 


THE  WHIG    PARTY.  187 

side-red  as  conclusive.  One  thing  is  very  certain  ;  if 
Mr.  Van  Bjiren  espoused  the  cause  of  Jackson,  shaped 
the  policy  of  his  administration,  and  engineered  the 
plots  and  conspiracies  of  the  day,  with  a  view  of  attain- 
ing the  presidency,  no  one  can  sneer  at  his  efforts,  or 
laugh  at  him  for  the  result.  Those  usually  laugh  who 
win. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  brought  into  Jackson's  cabinet  a 
fiercer  party  spirit  than  ever  had  been  entertained  in 
any  previous  President's  cabinet.  The  tactics  of  the 
Albany  regency  were  transferred  to  the  national  admin- 
istration. The  proscriptiveness  of  the  Democracy  of 
New  York,  which  had  been  excessive,  was,  with  the 
elevation  of  Van  Buren  to  a  place  in  the  President's 
cabinet,  adopted  in  regard  to  office-holders  under  the 
general  government.  Removals  became  general.  Un- 
der Washington  and  the  elder  Adams  there  had  been  but 
few,  —  some  nine  or  ten  under  each,  —  and  none  at  all 
on  account  of  party  spirit.  Jefferson,  under  the  extraor- 
dinary excitement  of  his  times,  made  but  thirty-nine  ; 
Madison  but  five  ;  Monroe  but  nine  ;  and  John  Quincy 
Adams  but  two  ;  but  thousands  of  removals  were  made 
by  Jackson,  and  the  practice  of  the  present  day,  of 
making  the  change  of  administration  a  signal  for  rota- 
tion of  office-holders,  had  its  origin  with  his  admin- 
istration. 

The  Democrats,  during  and  subsequent  to  the  war 
with  England,  had  been  preeminent  for  able  statesmen  ; 
but  the  more  radical  Democratic  party  that  sprang  into 
existence  under  Jackson  found  itself  confronted  with  a 
powerful  array  of  talent.  The  bad  fame  of  Federalism 
was  at  that  time  at  its  height  amongst  the  masses  of 
the  American  people  ;  and  because  the  Federalists,  as 
17 


188  A   HISTORY   OF 

a  general  thing1,  espoused  the  new  organization,  the 
Democratic  leaders  were  quite  successful  in  rendering 
the  National  Republicans,  as  they  were  called,  unpop- 
ular, by  charging  them  with  Federalism.  And  with  the 
Democracy  there  was  no  lack  of  ability.  Martin  Van 
Buren's  talents  can  be  recognized  when  it  is  recollected 
that  he  encountered  the  ablest  men  in  both  parties,  and 
triumphed  over  them.  His  ambition  was  to  attain  the 
presidency ;  and  to  reach  that  goal  he  cleared  his  path 
of  every  obstruction,  and  was  crowned  with  honors 
that  Crawford,  Calhoun,  Benton,  Webster,  Clay,  and 
other  able  cotemporaries,  sighed  for  in  vain.  Benton, 
Van  Buren,  and  Webster,  were  all  born  in  the  same  year 
(1182),  and  were  not  far  from  the  ages  of  Calhoun  and 
Clay.  There  were  among  other  able  congressmen  who 
adhered  to  the  Democracy  of  Jackson,  Henry  Hubbard, 
who  had  formerly  been  a  Federalist,  James  K.  Polk, 
Cave  Johnson,  Eichard  M.  Johnson,  J.  Y.  Mason, 
George  McDuffie,  C.  C.  Cambreling,  Tristram  Burgess, 
Andrew  Stevenson,  Levi  Woodbury,  Silas  Wright,  Mah- 
lon  Dickerson,  John  Tyler,  Robert  Y.  Hayne,  John 
Forsyth,  Felix  Grundy,  William  R.  King,  James  Bu- 
chanan (in  boyhood,  said  to  have  been  slightly  tinc- 
tured with  Federalism),  Isaac  Hill,  and  David  Crockett. 
The  most  noted,  whose  names  readily  occur,  are  men- 
tioned ;  there  having  been  others,  perhaps  equally  able, 
who  are  omitted.  The  Whigs,  however,  were  led  by 
Clay  and  Webster,  with  as  fine  an  array  of  talent  and 
genius  in  their  ranks  as  is  often  found  in  a  political 
party.  Mr.  Adams  was  in  the  House  in  the  Twenty- 
second  Congress,  and  remained  ever  true  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  administrations  of  Madison  and  Monroe.  He 
continued  in  Congress  during  his  life.  The  leading 


THE    WHIG   PARTY. 

Nationals,  or  Whigs,  who  were  in  Congress  during 
Jackson's  administration,  need  not  be  named,  as  they 
are  in  the  recollection  of  most  readers.  Everett  and 
Choate  were  there,  with  other  able  men  from  Massa- 
chusetts, such  as  Bates,  Davis,  Appleton  and  Briggs. 
George  Evans,  John  Bell,  Thomas  Corwin,  Thomas 
Ewing,  S.  F.  Vinton,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Samuel 
Prentiss,  Millard  Fillmore,  and  many  more  might  be 
named  who  led  in  the  National  Republican  ranks  in  Con- 
gress. Mr.  Benton,  in  his  Thirty  Years  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  is  not  very  minute  as  to  his  views  and 
course  on  the  prominent  measures  of  his  day  prior  to 
the  Twenty-second  Congress,  but  contents  himself  with 
an  ample  display  of  his  championship  of  the  Democratic 
measures  of  that  and  the  subsequent  period  of  his  sena- 
torial life. 

The  National  Republicans,  as  the  Clay  and  Adams 
party  were  at  first  termed,  or  Whigs,  as  they  were  after- 
wards called,  and  as  we  will  hereafter  call  them,  greatly  / 
annoyed  and  embarrassed  the  Democrats,  as  we  will/  j 
hereafter   style  the   other  party,  by  making  political  I 
issues,   and  putting  forth  principles  and  measures  aslj 
party  tests.    The  United  States  Bank,  Internal  Improve-  \ 
ments,  the  Tariff,  &c.,  were  at  once  unfurled  upon  the  \ 
Whig  banners,  and  the  advocacy  of  these  measures  was    \ 
claimed  as  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  the  Whig 
party.     This  was  regarded  as  unfair  by  Jackson  and 
his  friends,  as  the  most  of  them  were  or  had  been  favor- 
able to,  and  had  sustained,  these  measures.    It  was  sup- 
posed by  the  Whigs  that  the   administration,  were  it 
to    change   front   on   such   long-mooted,   and,    as   was 
thought,  finally  settled  systems  of  policy,  would  bring 
upon  itself  certain  destruction.     It  was  supposed  that 


190  A   HISTORY   OF 

the  people  were  competent  to  weigh  and  correctly 
decide  questions  of  national  policy,  and  that  a  depart- 
ure  by  the  administration  from  what  the  clearest- 
minded  statesmen  had  demonstrated,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past  had  established,  to  be  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  country,  would  bring  down  upon  it 
popular  disapprobation.  It  was,  therefore,  with  great 
reluctance  that  many  leading  Democrats  accepted  the 
issues  tendered  by  the  Whigs,  which  established,  as  it 
were,  a  new  system  of  electioneering.  When  the  try- 
ing moment  came,  —  when  the  instant  for  acting  in 
defiance  of  settled  convictions  was  at  hand,  —  some 
disposed  to  be  Democrats,  and  follow  the  fortunes  of 
Jackson,  found  their  sense  of  duty  and  honor  too  strong, 
and  became  the  victims  of  their  consciences.  But  cor- 
rect principles  do  not  always  secure  the  triumph  of  a 
party.  The  success  of  party  frequently  has  its  basis 
in  anything  but  truth.  The  greater  the  error,  the 
greater  the  enthusiasm.  The  Whigs  placed  their  whole 
hopes  on  the  right  and  justice  of  their  cause,  while  their 
antagonists  sought  theirs  in  the  passions  of  the  multi- 
tude. The  Democracy,  under  the  lead  of  Jackson, 
triumphed  over  the  Bank,  the  Tariff  arid  Internal  Im- 
provements ;  but  no  sensible  reader  supposes  that  in 
this  the  triumph  was  in  the  reason  of  the  people.  To 
suppose  that  the  mass  of  the  American  voters  had 
deliberately  examined  and  pronounced  upon  the  great 
questions  so  carefully  weighed  and  settled  by  such 
Democrats  as  Clay,  Calhoun,  Lowndes,  Crawford  and 
Cheeves,  and  had  intelligently  reversed  the  decisions  of 
these  men,  would  be  ridiculous.  Politics,  like  religion, 
is  with  the  masses  a  matter  of  faith. 

We  all  remember  the  enthusiasm  that  pervaded  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  191 

Democracy  of  those  days  —  styled  Jacksonian  Democ- 
racy. In  what  the  real  spirit  of  that  party  consisted, 
it  would  perhaps  be  hard  to  tell.  Reason  never  acts 
with  such  impulse.  The  candid  reader  must  admit  that 
the  passions  were  more  involved  than  the  intellect. 
The  Whigs  of  those  days  denounced  the  blind  and 
devoted  attachment  of  millions  to  their  chief,  as  "  man- 
worship.^  The  Whigs,  of  course,  were  more  or  less 
prejudiced  ;  but,  after  all,  it  is  not  disputed  that,  in  the 
passionate  devotion  manifested  by  multitudes  to  General 
Jackson,  there  was  something  resembling  idolatry.  The 
object  of  idolatry  may  be  worthy  or  unworthy,  may  be 
right  or  wrong ;  but,  whatever  its  qualities,  its  perfec- 
tions or  imperfections,  its  virtues  or  vices,  it  is  never 
regarded  by  its  worshippers  in  the  light  of  reason. 
Idolatry  is  not  an  intellectual  attribute  ;  it  is  a  passion 
that  overwhelms  and  extinguishes  the  intellect.  And 
idolatry  pervades  all  nations,  all  people.  He  is  a  rare 
man  who  has  no  touch  of  it  in  his  nature.  Priestcraft 
and  kingcraft,  that  have  endured  since  man  has  existed, 
are  founded  on  it.  Old  systems,  old  regimes  decay,  but 
only  to  make  places  for  new  ones.  The  form  undergoes 
a  change,  but  the  principle  remains  always  the  same. 
It  matters  little  whether  the  priest  be  a  Christian,  a 
Druid,  or  a  minister  of  Jupiter,  if  he  be  but  idolized. 
There  is  no  understanding,  no  reason,  no  operation  of 
the  intellect  in  the  matter.  The  love  of  Mahomet  is 
pure  and  devoted.  The  enthusiastic  worship  of  Brahma 
has  endured  for  ages.  Joe  Smith  has  left  as  ardent 
worshippers  as  any  earth-born  god  of  ancient  or  modern 
days.  Caesar,  Alexander,  and  Napoleon,  were  all  men 
of  transcendent  abilities,  and  each  was  endowed  with  a 
peculiar  faculty  of  exerting  power  over  the  aifections 
17* 


192  A    HISTORY   OF 

of  men.  Their  empires  were  in  the  hearts  of  men. 
Washington  was  cast  in  a  different  mould.  He  pos- 
sessed none  of  that  power  of  fascination  peculiar  to  the 
great  captains  mentioned,  and  which  was  in  an  eminent 
degree  enjoyed  by  Jackson.  The  confidence  reposed  in 
Washington  was  of  slow  growth,  and  the  love  he  in- 
spired was  the  passion  warmed  into  existence  by  the 
clear  rays  of  the  intellect.  From  the  outset  he  was 
beset  with  conspiracies,  cabals  and  traitors,  and  at  times 
the  Continental  Congress  was  itself  largely  poisoned 
against  him.  But,  step  by  step,  as  he  conducted  our 
little  forces  through  the  most  trying  perils  of  the  Revo- 
lution, did  his  firmness,  his  judgment,  his  prudence  and 
his  undying  vigilance,  wring  from  the  intelligent  and 
judicious  the  verdict  due  to  his  merits.  His  modera- 
tion and  caution ;  his  circumspection,  that  seemed  almost 
timidity ;  his  long-continued  retreats  and  refusals  to  risk 
engagements ;  his  patience  and  coolness,  that  never 
betrayed  him  into  a  rash  or  hazardous  battle ;  his  self- 
sacrificing  firmness  in  resisting  the  popular  clamor  for 
action,  and  in  persisting  in  risking  nothing  that  might 
endanger  a  cause  that  he  knew  was  safe,  have  demon- 
strated his  greatness  and  prudence,  and  caused  the 
intelligent  to  think  that  he  must  have  been  raised  up  by 
Providence  specially  for  the  crisis.  But  Washington's 
most  ardent  admirers  and  most  devoted  worshippers 
are,  and  always  have  been,  among  the  cultivated  and 
intellectual.  In  the  army  he  was  by  no  means  the 
stony  image  of  a  Wellington,  for  his  soldiers  could  not 
repay  his  superhuman  devotion  to  their  comfort  and 
rights  with  indifference  ;  but  to  win  applause  and  love 
from  the  populace,  the  hero  must  be  a  popular  hero  ;  he 
must  show  himself  great  in  attributes  that  are  peculiar 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  193 

to  all  men.  The  masses  have  but  little  sympathy  with 
moral  or  intellectual  heroes.  The  most  profound  intel- 
lects of  modem  times  may  have  made  lasting  impres- 
sions on  their  age,  but  have  inspired  anything  but 
enthusiasm  amongst  the  people.  Probably  millions  of 
their  contemporaries  were  acquainted  with  the  names 
of  Newton  and  La  Place,  who  could  not  tell  for  what 
either  was  noted  ;  and  the  most  transcendent  intellects 
are  not  the  ones  that  usually  receive  the  admiration  of 
the  multitude.  There  seems  to  be  in  the  heart  of  man 
an  innate  feeling  of  reverence  and  love  for  military 
achievements,  to  which  General  Jackson's  exploits  min- 
istered in  a  high  degree.  The  war  with  England  had 
been  vastly  popular  with  the  larger  portion  of  the 
people,  and  nothing  could  have  made  a  deeper  impres- 
sion upon  their  hearts  than  his  truly  heroic  triumph 
over  the  British  at  New  Orleans.  Furthermore,  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have,  from  the  foundation 
of  the  government,  been  divided  into  two  parties — the 
Conservative,  and  the  Liberal  or  Democratic  ;  —  and 
up  to  the  administration  of  Jackson,  an  overwhelming 
majority  had  belonged  to  the  latter  party.  In  founding 
the  Democratic  party,  Jefferson  had  advanced  principles 
and  measures  which  were  evidently  inspired  by  hostility 
to  Hamilton  and  the  Federalists  ;  but,  for  all  this,  the 
rapid  increase  of  the  Democracy  was  mainly  owing  to 
its  being  based  on  the  hatred  and  bitter  prejudices  lin- 
gering in  the  hearts  of  the  people  against  England. 
It  was,  in  its  origin,  as  much  the  creature  of  the  pas- 
sions as  of  the  reason,  and  consequently  its  occasional 
changes  of  measures,  principles  and  policy,  by  its  lead- 
ing men,  have  been  attended  with  no  particular  detri- 
ment to  its  popularity.  The  Federal  party,  of  course, 


A   HISTORY    OF 

was  only  in  degree  its  superior  in  regard  to  its  mode  of 
existence.  Parties  are  parties  ;  some  good,  some  bad, 
and  all  more  or  less  the  creatures  of  the  passions.  The 
Federal  party,  at  the  period  of  the  last  war  with  Eng- 
land, was  not  the  Federal  party  of  the  days  of  John 
Adams7  administration  ;  and  the  National  Republican 
and  Whig  parties  were  not  identical  with  either.  It  is 
true  that  the  members  of  the  old  Federal  party,  as  a 
general  thing,  adhered  to  the  last  named  parties  ;  but 
what  is  meant  is  that  the  anti-Democratic  parties  were 
no  more  uniform  in  their  principles  than  the  Democracy 
itself. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  195 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

MR.  VAN  BUREN'S  SUPPOSED  ASPIRATIONS.  —  QUARREL  BETWERN  CAL- 
IIOUN  AND  JACKSON,  HOW  PRODUCED,  AND  OBJECT.  —  CABINET 
REMODELLED.  —  VAN  BUREN  APPOINTED  MINISTER  TO  ENGLAND, 
AND  APPOINTMENT  NOT  CONFIRMED  BY  SENATE. — JACKSON 'S  AD- 
MINISTRATION. —  SOUTH  CAROLINA  RESISTS  THE  TARIFF.  —  POSITION 
OF  THAT  STATE  ON  THE  QUESTION  OF  SECESSION.  —  DEBATE  IN  THE 

U.  S.  SENATE,  AND  WEBSTER'S  REPLY  TO  COL.  HAYNE. — DANIEL 
WEBSTER  AND  HIS  CHARACTER.  —  HIS  DEMOLITION  OF  THE  NULLIFI- 
CATION AND  HIGHER-LAW  DOCTRINE,  ETC. 

IF  the  opinion  of  the  times  is  any  test,  we  shall  see 
that  Mr.  Van  Bureii  was  the  master-spirit  of  Jackson's 
administration  ;  that  he  was  the  controlling  genius  of 
the  Democracy  of  those  days.  Considering  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  standing  and  abilities,  and  his  controlling 
influence  with  the  Democracy  of  the  controlling  State 
of  New  York,  it  was  nothing  strange  that  he  should 
have  been  placed  at  the  head  of  Jackson's  cabinet. 
No  one  better  than  that  gentleman  understood  the 
advantages  of  his  position,  and  but  few  knew  better 
how  to  use  them.  His  eye  was  at  once  fixed  with  a 
steadfast  gaze  upon  the  presidential  chair.  His  favor- 
ite, Crawford,  was  no  longer  in  the  field.  Clay  and 
Webster  were  of  the  opposition.  Mr.  Adams  made  no 
further  pretensions.  There  was  but  one  rival,  and  that 
rather  a  formidable  one.  The  Vice-President,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  it  was  well  known,  had  a  right,  on  account  of 


196  A   H1STOEY   OF 

his  eminent  abilities  and  faithful  services,  to  indulge  in 
presidential  expectations.  He  was  an  eminent  states- 
man, and  of  commanding  influence  in  the  Democratic 
party.  Unless  Mr.  Calhoun's  claims  could  be  averted, 
there  would  be  no  prospect  for  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  the 
disposal  of  this  rival  was  the  most  serious  labor  on  the 
hands  of  the  last-named  gentleman. 

It  was  at  the  time,  by  Whigs  at  least,  supposed  that 
the  quarrel  between  Jackson  and  Calhoun  (which  ful- 
minated early  in  1831)  was  brought  about  by  Van 
Buren.  Many  expedients,  it  was  said,  had  been  re- 
sorted to  in  vain  for  the  purpose.  The  ears  of  Jackson 
had  been  filled  with  stories  of  Calhoun's  falsehood  and 
political  ambition  ;  of  his  machinations  to  oust  the  gen. 
eral  at  the  next  presidential  election,  and  so  forth  ;  but 
at  all  this,  and  much  more  of  the  sort,  Jackson  was 
indifferent  —  unmoved.  But,  at  last,  the  President's  ire 
was  aroused  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  Calhoun's  fall 
from  the  Democracy  was  one  of  the  strange  political 
events  of  those  eventful  times.  It  appears  that,  during 
Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  Jackson  had,  without  any 
authority,  entered"  the  Spanish  province  of  Florida, 
taken  possession  of  Pensacola,  and  acted  in  rather  an 
arbitrary,  but  nevertheless  quite  a  salutary  manner,  in 
a  neighbor's  dominions.  The  Indians  from  that  quarter 
had  been  accustomed  to  sally  forth  to  murder  our  cit- 
izens ;  and  emissaries  of  Britain  were  there  to  provoke, 
in  accordance  with  her  ancient  practice,  such  savage 
depredations  upon  our  borders.  Impelled  by  necessity, 
which  many  thought  sufficient  law  for  the  occasion, 
General  Jackson  entered  Florida,  broke  up  the  haunt, 
reduced  the  savages  to  terms,  and  executed  two  of  those 
British  agents.  The  affair  was  not  only  taken  up  in 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  197 

Congress,  but,  as  afterwards  turned  out,  was  also  con- 
sidered in  the  cabinet  at  the  time.  Some  of  the  ablest 
members  of  that  cabinet  thought  the  act  of  the  general 
should  be  censured.  It  was  the  feeling  of  no  one  that 
he  should  be  anything  more  than  censured,  or  punished 
nominally,  as  by  a  temporary  suspension,  or  something 
of  that  kind ;  but,  as  he  had  acted  clearly  without  author- 
ity in  entering  the  province  of  a  neutral  power,  many 
thought  that  some  notice  should  be  taken  of  it.  Mr. 
Calhoun,  it  seems,  so  thought.  But,  finally,  the  matter 
was  passed  over,  and,  as  Spain  was  of  not  much  conse- 
quence, no  great  attention  was  paid  to  the  transaction. 
Such  cabinet  consultations,  however,  are  considered 
confidential,  and  are  generally  kept  secret ;  but  after 
the  lapse  of  years,  and  after  Calhoun's  election  to  the 
vice-presidency  on  General  Jackson's  ticket  (Mr.  Cal- 
houn having,  in  1824,  taken  himself  out  of  the  way  as  a 
candidate,  arid  given  his  support  to  the  general),  the 
precious  secret  came  to  light.  It  was  obtained  from 
Mr.  Crawford,  who  had  been  at  the  time  a  me'mber  of  the 
cabinet,  and  so  published  in  a  correspondence  as  to  meet 
the  president's  eye.  The  spark  had  reached  the  magazine 
at  last,  and  the  explosion  was  terrific.  Mr.  Calhoun  did 
not  deny  that  he  had  favored  some  such  action  ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  he  thought  it  no  disparagement  to  Jack- 
son. He  claimed  that  he  had  proposed  no  such  censure 
or  punishment  as  an  enemy  of  that  personage,  but  as  a 
step  which  the  government  could  not,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, omit  with  safety  or  decency. 

The  rupture  between  Jackson  and  Calhoun  led  to  the 
necessity  of  remodelling  the  cabinet.  To  smooth  the 
way  for  this,  some  members  resigned,  and,  among  others, 
Mr.  Van  Buren.  This  gentleman,  as  will  be  recollected, 


198  A   HISTORY   OF 

was  appointed  Minister  to  England  ;  and  it  will  also  be 
recollected  that  his  appointment  was  not  confirmed 
when  brought  before  the  Senate.  This  fact  will  show 
the  party  bitterness  of  the  times,  and  the  enmity  that 
Mr.  Van  Buren  had  excited  against  himself.  There 
were  prominent  men  in  the  Senate  who  thought  that 
he  was  too  ambitious  for  the  presidency,  and  who 
seemed  to  think  that  the  refusal  of  that  body  to  con- 
firm his  appointment  would  cast  a  blight  upon  his  fast 
budding  popularity.  But  the  favorite  of  the  hero  of 
New  Orleans  was  not  to  be  put  down  in  this  manner. 
He  was  obliged  to  return  from  England  ;  but  his  rise  to 
the  presidency  was  rather  favored  than  injured  by  the 
action  of  the  Senate. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  speak  of  all  the  ex- 
citing measures  and  transactions  of  Jackson's  adminis- 
tration, as  the  questions  as  to  the  policy  of  many  of  them 
are  already  slumbering  in  the  tomb  of  the  past.  Even 
the  currency  question,  so  long,  so  powerfully,  and  so 
fiercely  agitated  by  the  ablest  statesmen  of  the  age,  is 
now  scarcely  heard  of.  The  removal  of  deposites  ;  the 
Senate's  resolution  of  censure  ;  the  President's  protest ; 
the  expunging  resolution  ;  were  all  ephemeral  transac- 
tions, and  have  now  no  value  as  political  events.  The 
question  in  regard  to  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  has  lost  much  of  its  former  interest ;  and  the 
Indian  removals,  the  West  India  trade,  and  many  other 
topics,  of  lively  interest  in  those  days,  have  but  little 
bearing  upon  the  politics  of  the  present  times.  There 
are  some  measures  which  were  discussed  during  Jack- 
son's administration,  however,  that  have  come  down  to 
us  as  party  issues,  and  still  are  the  subjects  of  vigorous 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  199^ 

contention.      Among  these  the  most  prominent  is  the 
tariff. 

The  tariff  of  1828  had  been  unsatisfactory  to  the 
leading  politicians  of  South  Carolina.  The  enmity  in 
that  state  to  the  doctrine  of  protective  tariffs  had  been 
growing  for  some  time,  and  was  quite  decidedly  fixed  by 
the  act  of  that  year.  Travellers  from  the  South  had 
found  that  Northern  cities  were  growing  faster  than 
some  Southern  ones ;  that  the  principal  Eastern  em- 
poriums were  flourishing  better  than  Charleston,  of 
South  Carolina  ;  and  the  conclusion  was  very  rashly 
jumped  at  that  this  was  all  the  result  of  the  tariffs. 
Charleston  and  other  Southern  cities,  it  was  said,  had 
retrograded,  and  were  not  even  so  prosperous  as  they  had 
been  in  the  colonial  state.  There  was  some  plausibility, 
though  but  little  justice,  in  the  South  Carolina  theory  in 
regard  to  the  matter.  They  saw  that  the  principal 
exports  of  the  country  were  from  the  South,  and  were 
of  products  not  benefited  by  protection ;  and  that  the 
North  were  alone  enjoying  all  the  benefits  of  the  tariff 
system.  The  tariff,  they  urged,  was  in  effect  a  tax  on 
exports,  and  the  whole  revenue  of  the  government  a 
charge  upon  the  South.  And,  further,  it  was,  they 
thought,  the  interest  of  the  South  to  maintain  free  trade 
with  England  who  bought  their  cotton,  hemp  and  to- 
bacco, as  a  prohibition  of  British  goods  would  have  a 
tendency  to  diminish  the  British  demand  for  these  prod- 
ucts. This  last  position  was  seriously  entertained  by 
many  Southern  statesmen.  The  politicians  of  South  Car- 
olina yielded  themselves  up  without  reserve  to  the  con- 
viction that  they  were  the  victims  of  partial  legislation. 
They  had  no  doubt  of  the  fact,  and  really  felt  that  the 
selfish  and  ungenerous  North  and  West  were  throwing 
18 


200  A    HISTORY   OP 

upon  their  shoulders  unjust  burdens,  and  making  them- 
selves rich  out  of  Southern  industry.  That  the  sons 
of  Carolina  should  feel  unutterable  indignation  at  the 
thought  that  they  were  the  objects  of  a  systematic 
oppression  by  a  selfish  and  unyielding  majority,  was 
nothing  strange  ;  and  that,  goaded  to  despair  by  such 
a  feeling,  they  should,  Green-Mountain-Boys-like,  rather 
than  submit  to  such  an  outrage,  take  up  arms  and 
"make  war  on  human  nature  at  large, "  would  appear 
nothing  marvellous  to  a  brave  man.  However,  that 
they  were  influenced  by  a  sad  delusion  is  apparent 
enough.  They  too  readily  embraced  the  belief  that 
they  were  the  subjects  of  partial  and  unconstitutional 
legislation.  The  mass  of  the  South  Carolina  people 
easily  yielded  their  faith  to  the  opinions  of  leaders  who 
had  formed  their  conclusions  too  rashly.  Being  them- 
selves naturally  a  liberal  and  generous  hearted  people, 
they  were  the  last  in  the  world  that  would  tamely 
submit  to  what  their  sentiments  of  justice  and  honor 
taught  them  to  consider  mean,  base,  and  oppressive. 

We  are  apt  to  think  that  all  legislation  which  thwarts 
our  interests  or  passions  is  unconstitutional.  Alien  and 
sedition  laws,  annexation  laws,  embargo  laws,  non-inter- 
course laws,  fugitive  slave  laws,  Wilmot  proviso  laws, 
territorial  intervention  laws,  bank  laws,  temperance  laws, 
and  multitudes  of  other  laws,  have  from  time  to  time 
been  denounced,  as  well  as  tariff  laws,  as  unconstitu- 
tional. This  plea  is  a  natural  resort,  under  our  system 
of  government,  when  we  find  the  majority  against  us. 
But  it  has,  as  a  general  thing,  since  the  foundation  of 
our  government,  been  customary  to  defer,  on  all  questions 
as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  acts  of  Congress,  to 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  201 

Even  Virginia,  the  leader  in  the  states-rights  doctrine, 
the  promulgates  of  the  celebrated  resolutions  of  1798, 
—  resolutions  inspired  by  the  famous  alien  and  sedi- 
tion laws, — never  dreamed  of  questioning  the  conclus- 
iveness  of  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  on  all  such  questions  ;  and  although  she 
looked  upon  these  alien  and  sedition  laws  as  entirely 
unconstitutional  and  most  abhorrent,  still,  Callender  was 
arrested  for  their  violation,  and  imprisoned  in  her  capi- 
tal, and  her  citizens  never  thought  of  resorting  to  any 
higher  law  than  provided  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
country.  Perhaps  the  excitement  in  Virginia  was  not 
so  fierce,  in  regard  to  those  sedition  laws,  as  it  was  in 
Massachusetts,  at  a  later  date,  against  the  embargo 
acts.  The  frenzy  in  the  latter  state  was  so  extreme 
as  to  cause  some  of  her  citizens  to  think  that  their  leg- 
islature could  afford  them  relief  from  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  But,  during  the  noblest  part  of  her  his- 
tory, Massachusetts  has  taught  nothing  but  obedience 
to  the  acts  of  the  national  legislature.  It  was  the 
misfortune  of  South  Carolina  to  fall  into  the  error  em- 
braced, at  an  earlier  period,  by  some  of  the  more  ardent, 
and  less  considerate  sons  of  the  Bay  State  ;  and  a  con- 
vention, not  unlike  what  the  Hartford  Convention  was 
usually  thought  to  have  been,  was  contemplated  by  the 
irritated  citizens  of  the  Palmetto  State.  The  states- 
men of  South  Carolina  took  the  position  that  the  union 
of  the  states  is  but  a  compact,  the  Constitution  being 
its  grant  and  limitation  of  powers.  They  claimed  that 
the  passage  of  an  act  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution 
is  an  absolute  nullity,  and  not  binding  upon  anybody ; 
that  it  is  for  each  state  to  determine  for  itself  the  con- 
stitutionality or  unconstitutionality  of  the  acts  of  Con- 


202  A   HISTORY   OF 

gross.  The  Constitution,  according  to  their  theory,  is 
but  a  congeries  of  concessions,  or  conceded  powers,  to 
the  genera]  government,  made  by  the  states  ;  all  powers 
inherent  in  the  states,  and  not  surrendered  at  the 
time  of  the  formation  of  the  Union,  remaining  still  in 
them  respectively ;  and  that,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
each  state  reserved  the  right  of  judging  for  itself  as 
to  the  constitutionality  of  any  laws  that  this  govern- 
ment might  enact.  It  would  be  no  compact,  they 
contended,  if  the  state  acceding  to  the  Union  were 
to  be  bound  by  the  acts  and  decisions  of  that  Union, 
with  no  power  of  judging  as  to  its  own  rights.  And, 
further,  they  claimed  the  right  of  secession,  or  with- 
drawal, from  the  Union. 

The  first  appearance  of  these  Carolina  doctrines  in 
Congress  was  at  the  time  of  the  celebrated  debate 
by  Webster  and  Hayne,  in  1830.  Mr.  Webster  had 
watched  the  symptoms  of  disaffection  in  the  South,  and 
seen  the  spread  of  those  dangerous  principles  with  a 
great  deal  of  apprehension.  At  this  time  he  was 
not  a  violent  party  man,  —  in  fact,  he  never  was. 
Our  country  has  not  produced  a  more  substantial,  up- 
right, patriotic,  and  independent  statesman,  than  Dan- 
iel Webster.  That  he  was  not  always  popular,  and 
was,  during  the  most  of  his  political  life,  in  the  party 
of  the  minority,  should  be  regarded  as  evidence  that 
he  preferred  his  country's  to  his  own  welfare.  His 
stand  on  public  measures,  and  his  support  of  men  and 
parties,  were  not  fixed  by  the  decrees  of  fate,  but  were 
matters  of  his  own  choice.  He  could  have  continued 
the  supporter  of  Jackson,  and  been  made  President ; 
but  where,  had  such  been  the  case,  would  have  been 
those  luminous  and  unparalleled  discourses  on  constitu- 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  203 

tional  law,  and  on  the  domestic  and  foreign  policy  of 
our  government,  for  all  which  our  country  is  indebted 
to  his  opposition  to  the  administration  of  that  great, 
but  not  politically  perfect,  man  ?  Mr.  Webster's  course 
in  regard  to  public  measures  was  never  shaped  by  the 
consultations  of  caucuses,  nor  by  the  intrigues  of  party 
plotters.  As  questions  of  public  policy  arose,  he  at 
once  applied  his  mind  to  their  investigation,  and  with- 
out hesitation,  and  with  the  boldness  and  power  pecu- 
liar to  his  nature,  announced  his  convictions  in  regard  to 
them.  His  intellectual  faculties  were  conceded  to  be 
unparalleled  in  the  age  in  which  he  lived  ;  and,  of  all 
the  transcendent  powers  and  affections  of  his  mind  and 
heart,  his  perception  and  devotion  to  principles  were 
the  most  commanding.  With  an  intellect  highly  philo- 
sophic in  its  cast,  he  possessed  those  high  moral  qual- 
ities which  rendered  his  love  of  truth  and  principle  a 
controlling  passion.  It  was  scarcely  possible  for  a 
mind  constituted  like  Mr.  Webster's  to  act  otherwise 
than  in  accordance  with  his  convictions  of  right ;  and 
consequently  he  was  naturally  averse  to  compromise. 
His  congressional  experience,  at  the  time  of  his  debate 
with  Col.  Hayne,  had  been  considerable  ;  it  will  be 
recollected  that  he  was  then  (1830)  forty-eight  years  of 
age.  He  had  been  elected  to  Congress  (from  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.)  when  he  was  about  thirty  years  old  (1812),  and 
was  again  returned  from  the  same  place  in  1814.  In 
1816  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  from  that  city  was 
sent  to  Congress  in  1822,  and  was  continued  in  the 
House  until  his  election  to  the  Senate  in  182T. 

We  see  that  Daniel  Webster  was  not  a  native  of 
Massachusetts.     He  was  a  son  of  New  Hampshire,  the 
Granite  State,  as  it  is  called ;    a  granite  boulder  that 
18* 


204  A   HISTORY   OF 

the  frosts  of  penury  had  rent  from  his  native  mountains, 
and,  after  having  been  for  some  time  drifted  at  the 
mercy  of  the  elements,  at  last  lodged  upon  the  grate- 
ful bosom  of  the  Old  Bay  State.  To  continue  the 
figure,  it  may  truly  be  said  that  he  became  the  "rock 
of  her  defence. "  When  she  was  attacked,  — when  her 
history  was  assailed,  —  when  poisoned  arrows  were 
aimed  at  her  heart  by  an  envenomed  foe,  —  Daniel  Web- 
ster was  her  rampart  —  her  Gibraltar.  Mr.  Webster 
had  not  been  born  to  wealth,  nor  advanced  in  youth 
by  the  appliances  and  influences  of  power.  His  father 
was  an  humble  farmer,  and  Daniel  was  brought  into  exist- 
ence in  an  obscure  rural  section  of  the  country,  —  a 
section  only  known  for  its  ungrateful  soil,  its  rugged 
hills,  and  the  poverty  of  its  inhabitants.  In  this  re- 
spect Henry  Clay  was  more  favored  than  his  younger 
contemporary.  Almost  at  the  outset  of  Mr.  Clay's  life 
he  was  thrown  into  the  society  of  men  of  standing,  learn- 
ing, and  wealth  ;  and  Mr.  Clay's  lack  of  the  knowledge 
of  books  was  perhaps  more  than  compensated  by  his 
endowment  with  the  peculiar  ability  of  obtaining  that 
knowledge  at  second-hand,  by  readily  drawing  it  from 
book-learned  men.  Furthermore,  there  is  a  difference 
between  the  people  of  the  South  and  the  North  in 
regard  to  their  encouragement  of  talent.  In  the  South, 
it  has  been  often  observed,  the  first  dawnings  of  talent 
are  hailed  with  admiration  ;  and  the  young  man  of 
promise  and  worth  is  advanced,  and  receives  every  aid 
and  support  that  his  merits  will  warrant.  A  fair  field 
and  a  fair  trial  are  given  him,  with  every  sympathy  in 
his  favor.  But  in  the  North,  talent  and  worth  must 
fight  their  way  into  favor ;  and  then,  unless  the  indi- 
vidual shall  sacrifice  his  manhood  and  independence  by 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  205 

doing  homage  to  the  bigoted  notions  or  prevailing 
prejudices  of  the  hour,  the  talents  and  virtues  of  a 
Webster  would  not  save  him  from  neglect  and  con- 
tempt. Fortunately,  Mr.  Webster  removed  to  Bos- 
ton at  a  period  when  her  able,  great  and  good  men  had 
influence  with  the  people  of  Massachusetts.  His  abili- 
ties were  recognized  and  appreciated,  and  the  Old  Bay 
State  had  cause  to  rejoice  in  her  acquisition.  The 
career  of  Webster  is  too  well  known  to  justify  even  a 
slight  repetition.  In  the  House,  in  the  Senate,  and  in  the 
highest  courts  of  the  land,  he  at  once  took  the  first  rank. 
As  a  legislator  he  regarded  his  position  as  a  trust  to 
be  exercised  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  country.  Nar- 
row or  sectional  feelings  could  find  no  entrance,  much 
less  abiding-place,  in  his  heart.  Throughout  his  life  he 
was  characterized  for  an  enthusiastic  love  of  country. 
Patriotism  was  his  absorbing  passion.  His  father  had 
been  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  Webster's  infancy 
immediately  succeeded  the  great  drama  in  which  that 
father  had  been  an  actor.  Hence  the  earliest  impres- 
sions of  his  uncommon  mind  must  have  been  favorable 
for  the  promotion  of  lasting  sentiments  of  patriotism. 
The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed  and 
promulgated  to  the  country  when  Daniel  was  about 
eight  years  of  age.  It  was  a  topic  that  commanded 
intense  interest  among  the  hardy  yeomanry  of  the 
country ;  and  the  sentiments  of  loyalty  with  which 
that  instrument  was  treated  by  his  parents  and  neigh- 
bors inspired  young  Webster  himself  with  a  veneration 
for  it  that  became,  in  after  life,  a  marked  and  enduring 
feature  of  his  character.  The  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion by  the  people  of  the  United  States  formed  an 
epoch  in  the  country's  history.  It  was  something  new, 


206  A   HISTORY   OF 

interesting  and  important,  and  was  at  once  published 
everywhere.  It  was  doubtless  printed  in  many  forms, 
and  on  many  fabrics.  As  a  significant  anecdote,  it  is 
said  that  Mr.  Webster  never  forgot  that  in  those  days 
he  used  to  peruse  the  great  charter  of  American  liberties 
printed  upon  his  pocket-handkerchief. 

Therefore,  when  Colonel  Hayne,  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  advanced  the  new-born  South  Carolina  doctrines, 
and  in  that  high  tribunal  openly  advocated  nullification 
and  disunion,  it  was  by  no  means  strange  that  the  vast 
"  deeps "  of  Mr.  Webster's  soul  should  have  been 
stirred.  The  Senate  to  Mr.  Webster  was  a  sacred 
place.  He  looked  upon  all  the  institutions  of  his  coun- 
try with  veneration,  and  never  entered  the  humblest 
court  of  justice  without  a  feeling  of  awe  for  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  tribunal.  But  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  was  invested  in  his  eyes  with  peculiar  sacredness. 
Much  of  this  feeling  is  manifested  in  his  celebrated 
reply  to  Colonel  Hayne.  But  that  great  speech  of  Mr. 
Webster  is  well  known  to  every  reader  of  the  English 
language,  or  should  be.  The  higher  law  set  up  by  the 
nullifiers  received  a  signal  overthrow,  and  the  Constitu- 
tion an  interpretation  that  has  never  since  been  ques- 
tioned by  any  sensible  man,  North  or  South.  The 
nullifiers  were  at  the  time  too  far  committed  to  their 
course  of  nullification  to  retreat ;  but  no  doubt  that 
thousands,  in  other  parts  of  the  South,  to  whom  the 
Carolina  theory  had  looked  plausible,  were,  by  the  great 
argument  of  Mr.  Webster,  at  once  and  forever  saved 
from  the  gulf  of  nullification. 

Colonel  Hayne  was  a  learned,  talented  and  eloquent 
orator.  He  was  no  doubt  firmly  impressed  with  the 
correctness  and  justice  of  his  views.  There  is  some- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  207 

thing  plausible  to  the  superficial  inquirer  in  the  doctrine 
that  a  state  should  not  be  bound  by  what  to  her  may 
clearly  appear  to  be  an  unconstitutional  law.  And, 
more  especially,  when  the  national  legislature  shall 
make  an  enactment  that  appears  to  cleave  down  the 
natural  rights  of  a  portion  of  the  people,  —  that 
tramples  upon  and  enslaves  them,  —  it  seems  hard  to 
insist  that  such  people  shall  be  subject  to  no  relief  but 
the  national  tribunal,  that  is  supposed  to  sympathize 
with  the  majority  which  controls  the  national  legisla- 
ture. Fallacious  and  disorganizing  as  such  higher-law 
doctrines  may  be,  the  country  has  not  always  been  free 
from  them.  At  their  first  appearance  in  the  Senate,  they 
were  rebuked  by  Mr.  Webster.  That  such  principles 
should  be  rebuked  by  a  Massachusetts  man  inspired 
great  indignation  in  the  heart  of  Colonel  Hayne.  He 
did  not  limit  himself  solely  to  a  defence  of  his  doctrines, 
but  turned  upon  Massachusetts,  and  represented  her  as 
ever  having  been  the  champion  of  higher  laws,  and  as 
possessing  the  least  possible  reverence  for  such  acts  of 
the  general  government  as,,  displease  her  prejudices. 
The  controversy,  as  initiated  by  the  South  Carolina 
politicians,  was  made  to  take  a  sectional  character,  and 
it  opened  by  fierce  onslaughts  by  members  of  one  sec- 
tion of  the  country  upon  the  history,  character  and 
institutions  of  another.  Colonel  Hayne  could,  without 
difficulty,  find  imperfections  in  Massachusetts  humanity, 
and  Webster  could,  if  he  had  been  disposed,  have  made 
quite  a  railing  speech  in  regard  to  Carolina's  antece- 
dents. But  Webster's  triumph  was  in  the  loftiness  of 
his  sentiments,  his  magnanimity,  and  the  more  than 
sun-light  clearness  with  which  he  demonstrated  the 
position  that  the  only  alternative  was  obedience  to  the 


208  A   HISTORY    OP 

laws  of  the  United  States,  or  revolution.  The  Senate* 
he  regarded  as  no  arena  for  the  indulgence  in  sectional 
aspersions ;  and,  instead  of  expending  his  force  in  dis- 
covering and  exposing,  in  glowing  colors,  the  errors  and 
mistakes  of  a  sister  state,  he  dwelt  on  the  past  glories  of 
both  Carolina  and  Massachusetts,  and  shrank  with  horror 
from  the  contemplation  of  the  time  when  the  bonds  of 
union  shall  be  rent  asunder.  His  vindication  of  Massa- 
chusetts was  so  noble,  —  he  so  obscured  the  follies  of  her 
insane  fanatics  by  enlarging  upon  that  earlier  period  of 
her  history  when  she  was  ruled  by  statesmen  and 
patriots,  —  he  made  "the  past,  at  least,"  of  the  old  Bay 
State  so  brilliant  and  glorious,  that  all  the  errors  of  a 
later  day  became  invisible. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  209 


CHAPTER    XX. 

EFFECT  OF  JACKSON 'S  ELECTION  ON  THE  PROTECTIVE  SYSTEM.  —  CLAY 
AMBITIOUS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY. — HE  HAD  FORCED  THE  TARIFF 
SYSTEM  AS  AN  ISSUE  ON  JACK3ON. — WEBSTER'S  AMBITION.  —  JACKSON 
DID  NOT  NEGLECT  HIS  OPPONENTS.  —  WHIG  NATIONAL  CONVENTION, 
DEC.  1831.  —  PARTY  PLATFORM.  —  CLAY  CANDIDATE.  —  CAMPAIGN  OF 
1832.  —  UNITED  STATES  BANK  QUESTION.  —  JACKSON  REFLECTED.  — 
VAN  BUREN  VICE-PRESIDENT,  ETC. 

THE  first  election  of  General  Jackson  left  the  Amer- 
ican system  of  Mr.  Clay  in  rather  an  equivocal  position. 
Mr.  Clay  and  his  party  had  offered  themselves  as  its 
peculiar  friends,  and  were  defeated  ;  but  neither  Jackson 
nor  the  greater  part  of  his  supporters  had  pretended 
to  be  hostile  to  protection.  It  was  not  till  the  next 
presidential  campaign  (that  of  1832)  that  the  national 
election  was  made  a  test  as  to  the  protective  policy. 
That  it  was  imprudent  to  risk  so  important  a  measure 
by  carrying  it  before  the  people,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
But  Mr.  Clay  had  unbounded  confidence  in  the  discrim- 
ination and  judgment  of  the  people,  and  concluded  that 
by  making  his  elevation  depend  on  the  fate  of  a  popular 
measure,  the  measure  would  receive  no  detriment,  and 
his  success  be  beyond  a  doubt.  Mr.  Clay  had  a  noble 
ambition  to  become  President.  He  looked  upon  the 
station  as  one  that  should  be  the  reward  for  high  merit, 
and  patriotic  services.  He  would  win  it.  He  did  not 
desire  to  worm  himself  into  that,  or  any  other  office,  by 
tortuous  intrigues.  He  regarded  the  honor  as  the  gift 


210  A   HISTORY    OF 

of  the  people  ;  and  to  the  American  people  he  addressed 
himself  for  its  acquisition.  He  devoted  himself  to  such 
measures  as  he  deemed  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
country,  and  trusted  that,  as  the  people  had  their  own 
welfare  at  heart,  they  would  of  course  cherish  and 
promote  the  statesman  best  able  and  most  inclined  to 
advance  those  interests.  The  American  system  was 
substantially  Mr.  Clay's  ;  that  is,  he  had  more  assidu- 
ously advocated  it  than  any  other  American.  It  was, 
perhaps,  no  more  than  just  that  he  should  endeavor  to 
identify  his  hopes  with  the  fate  of  a  measure  of  his  own 
construction,  especially  as  he,  as  well  as  many  other 
eminent  statesmen,  considered  that  the  true  interests  of 
the  country  were  involved  in  the  fate  of  that  measure. 
Mr.  Clay  was  peculiarly  situated.  He  was  surrounded 
by  competitors  for  the  glorious  station  to  which  he 
aspired  with  an  ambition  as  pure  as  ever  fired  a  patriot's 
heart.  Why  should  he  not  raise  his  eyes  to  that  ex- 
alted position  ?  Would  the  proud  honor  be  any  the  less 
grateful  to  him  on  account  of  his  recollections  of  his 
humble  origin  —  of  the  days  of  his  orphanage  and  des- 
titution ?  But  to  gain  that  elevated  seat,  —  the  pres- 
idency of  the  United  States,  —  Mr.  Clay  could  not, 
-without  a  radical  change  of  his  nature,  resort  to  any 
but  the  most  honorable  means.  No  one  sooner  than  he 
saw  the  nascent  popularity  of  General  Jackson.  In 
1825,  when,  as  a  senator  from  Kentucky,  he  sustained 
Mr.  Adams  (in  the  House)  for  the  presidency,  he  acted 
in  defiance  of  the  instructions  of  his  state,  because  he 
conceived  that  his  duty  required  him  so  to  do.  Jackson 
and  Clay  did  not  differ  at  that  time  in  politics,  and  the 
latter  had  not  a  few  intimations,  if  not  direct  offers, 
of  advancement,  if  he  would  consent  to  throw  his 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  211 

influence  for  the  general.  But  his  nobler  impulses 
forbade.  His  spirit  was  too  proud  to  suffer  him  to  glide 
into  so  high  an  office  by  clinging  to  the  skirts  of  one 
whom  he  regarded  as,  in  every  essential  qualification  for 
such  office,  very  much  his  inferior.  The  result  was  that 
those  who  were  willing  to  sail  under  Jackson's  colors 
triumphed  in  their  ambitious  schemes,  while  those  who 
presumed  to  question  the  correctness  of  his  administra- 
tion were  doomed  to  disappointment  and  humbler  sta- 
tions. Mr.  Webster,  likewise,  had  a  lofty  ambition  for 
the  presidency  ;  but  his  was  not  an  ambition  which, 
like  that  attributed  to  Van  Buren,  would  drive  him 
into  intrigues  ;  nor  was  it  one,  like  Clay's,  that  would 
impel  him  to  exertions  calculated  to  lead  the  people  to 
his  standard.  Mr.  Webster  was  the  best  constituted  by 
nature,  the  best  fitted  by  education  and  training,  and 
the  best  adapted  by  his  moral  and  mental  qualifications, 
for  the  presidency  of  this  Union,  of  any  man,  with  the 
exception  of  Washington,  that  has  ever  yet  filled  the 
presidential  chair.  The  neglect  of  the  country  to  place 
him  in  that  office  was  the  country's  loss.  But,  although 
the  first  of  American  statesmen,  Mr.  Webster  was  never 
a  politician.  lie  ever  acted  on  the  principle  that  the 
officer,  and  not  the  office,  should  be  sought. 

In  the  struggle  for  ascendency,  General  Jackson  was 
by  no  means  guilty  of  negligence,  or  want  of  vigilance. 
He  had  been  a  military  captain,  and  understood  some- 
thing of  fortification.  At  the  outset,  he  commenced 
with  the  precaution  of  keeping  none  but  true  friends  on 
guard  ;  and  all  his  office-holders  became,  under  the  dis- 
cipline they  received  from  the  heads  of  departments, 
faithful  minute-men.  Callioun  was  sacrificed,  leaving, 
of  his  own  political  organization,  but  one  eminent  states- 
19 


212  A    HISTORY    OF 

man.  and  that  one  content,  and  probably  pledged,  to 
await  the  proper  time  for  successorship.  An  organ, 
also,  was  established  at  head-quarters,  to  promulgate 
the  faith,  and  fulminate  anathemas  upon  the  unfaithful. 
That  organ  was  the  Washington  Globe,  edited  by 
Francis  Blair.  Although  a  popular  man,  and  strongly 
entrenched  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  General 
Jackson  found  that  attention  to  his  party  was  necessary. 
He  saw  that  a  powerful  array  of  talent  was  uniting 
against  his  administration,  and  that  some  vigilance  was 
indispensably  requisite. 

The  Whigs,  or  National  Republicans,  as  then  called, 
held  their  convention  at  Baltimore  as  early  as  December, 
1831,  to  nominate  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President,  for  the  November  election  of  1832.  The 
delegates  at  that  convention  adopted  a  party  platform, 
among  other  measures,  putting  forth  the  Bank,  Tariff 
and  Internal  Improvements.  Some  of  these  measures 
had  incurred  the  opposition  of  the  President  already, 
and  the  election  which  came  off  in  '32  was  considered 
decisive  as  to  the  fate  of  the  whole  of  them,  so  far  as 
the  popular  voice  could  be  indicated  by  an  election.  At 
that  convention  Henry  Clay  was  nominated  for  Presi- 
dent, arid  John  Sargent,  of  Pennsylvania,  for  Vice- 
President.' 

Early  in  1832  the  campaign  opened  with  much  vigor. 
The  long  term  of  Congress  was  in  session,  and  was 
somewhat  made  use  of  for  electioneering  purposes.  It 
was  important  that  the  members  of  Congress  should  by 
their  action  be  made  to  signify  their  position  in  regard 
to  important  questions  ;  and  if,  by  fair  and  honorable 
tactics,  leading  statesmen  should  be  driven  to  an  exposi- 
tion of  their  principles,  the  state  could  not  be  said  to 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  213 

receive  any  injury,  even  if  it  was  not  benefited  by  the 
operation.  Party  leaders  have  always  claimed  the  right 
of  thus  forcing  issues  upon  their  adversaries,  and  this 
Clay  did  in  that  Congress  with  wonderful  effect.  The 
United  States  Bank  had  long  been,  like  Hamlet's  ghost, 
a  questionable  monster  ;  and  Jackson,  in  his  patriotic 
resolve,  at  the  commencement  of  his  career,  to  restore 
the  pure  principles  of  Jefferson's  administration,  had 
signified  his  hostility  to  it,  and  expressed  his  opposition 
to  its  receiving  a  new  charter.  The  first  United  States 
Bank  received  its  charter  under  Washington's  adminis- 
tration, in  1791.  Washington's  cabinet  was  divided 
upon  the  question  of  its  policy  and  constitutionality  — 
Hamilton  being  in  favor  of,  and  Jefferson  opposed  to, 
the  institution.  The  first  charter  expired  in  1811,  dur- 
ing the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison  ;  and  the  prev- 
alence of  the  original  Republican  sentiments  at  that 
time  prevented  its  renewal.  The  war  with  England 
ensued,  from  which  the  country  emerged  much  crippled 
in  its  finances,  and  embarrassed  in  its  exchanges.  Repub- 
licanism became  universal,  and  a  new  set  of  statesmen 
were  in  the  halls  of  the  national  legislature.  The  ques- 
tion was  discussed  in  regard  to  its  merits  as  a  measure 
for  improving  the  currency,  and  without  regard  to  party 
tenets ;  and  the  result  was  the  granting  of  a  new 
charter,  during  the  last  year  of  Mr.  Madison's  term 
(1816),  which  was  to  run  twenty  years.  This  charter 
would  expire,  of  course,  in  1836.  The  passage  of  an 
act  granting  a  renewal  of  that  charter  was  not  neces- 
sary before  1834  or  1835  ;  but  the  Whigs  saw  fit  to 
bring  forward  the  subject  early  in  1832.  It  was  well 
known  that  there  were  many  Democrats  in  Congress 
who  would  support  an  act  for  the  recharter  of  the  Bank, 


214  A   HISTORY   OF 

and  the  Whigs  thought  it  advisable  to  commit  them  to 
the  measure,  and  then  force  Jackson  to  an  acquiescence, 
or  array  against  him  that  part  of  the  Democracy  which 
was  in  its  favor.  Accordingly,  early  in  July,  a  new  char- 
ter for  the  United  States  Bank  passed  both  houses,  and 
promptly  received  President  Jackson's  veto.  The  United 
States  Bank  had  really  grown  up  to  be  something  of  a 
monster,  so  far  as  its  power  was  concerned,  and  its  life 
was  not  to  be  yielded  up  without  a  struggle.  When 
its  various  branches  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
are  considered  ;  and  when  we  recollect  the  numbers  of 
wealthy  and  influential  men,  directly  and  indirectly  inter- 
ested in  its  existence  ;  when  the  vast  amount  of  its  capi- 
tal, the  enhanced  value  of  its  stock,  the  profits  of  its 
dividends,  the  great  numbers  of  its  officers  and  attaches, 
and  its  intimate  connection  with  the  business  of  the 
country,  are  all  brought  to  mind,  we  shall  not  be  sur- 
prised at  the  great  excitement  occasioned  by  the  Presi- 
dent's veto  of  the  new  charter. 

The  utility  of  the  Bank  as  an  instrument  for  the 
collection  of  the  revenue  was  manifest ;  and,  as  a  regu- 
lator of  the  currency,  and  a  medium  of  exchanges,  it 
was  thought  highly  necessary,  if  not  absolutely  indis- 
pensable. The  power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  Bank 
had  been  canvassed  by  political  theorists  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  government;  and  long  prior  to, Jackson's 
election  to  the  presidency,  not  only  had  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  virtually  settled  the  question  of 
its  constitutionality,  but  the  ablest  Democratic  states- 
men had  yielded  all  scruple  in  regard  to  that  question. 
Some  statesmen  had  located  the  power  to  establish  a 
Bank  in  that  section  of  the  Constitution  which  author- 
izes Congress  to  regulate  the  currency.  But  almost 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  215 

every  statesman  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  a  Bank 
was  necessary  as  a  means  of  carrying  into  effect  the 
general  provisions  of  the  Constitution  by  which  the 
government  is  established.  That  the  most  powerful, 
and  most  rapidly  growing  government  on  earth  had 
not  power  to  establish  a  Bank  for  its  own  convenience, 
as  an  instrument  for  the  transaction  of  its  extensive 
and  varied  fiscal  operations,  such  as  the  collecting  and 
disbursing,  annually,  about  a  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars,—  and  these  operations,  not  limited  to  this  continent, 
but  requiring  the  transmission  and  disbursement  of  funds 
throughout  all  parts  of  the  habitable  globe, — seemed 
to  every  reflecting  man,  to  every  reasonable  person  who 
could  consider  the  question  with  unprejudiced  mind,  as 
absolutely  absurd  and  ridiculous.  The  constitutional 
power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  Bank  cannot  admit  of 
much  question  ;  but  the  expediency  of  such  an  estab- 
lishment, though  a  branch  of  the  constitutional,  is  in 
reality,  the  only  question  in  the  matter.  Though  in 
many  respects  highly  valuable  and  useful,  it  was  urged 
that  the  United  States  Bank  system  was  fraught  with 
evils.  The  enemies  of  that  system  brought  against  the 
Bank  every  charge  imaginable.  Horrible  frauds  were 
charged  upon  it.  It  was  alleged  that  it  had  exercised 
favoritism  ;  that  it  had,  by  expansions  and  contractions, 
encouraged  speculations  in  produce  and  other  property; 
that  its  officers  had  themselves  made  use  of  the  institu- 
tion for  cotton  and  other  speculations  ;  and,  worse  than 
all,  it  was  alleged  that  the  whole  establishment  was  a 
busy  arid  powerful  electioneering  concern.  How  much 
truth  there  was  in  these  charges  it  is  unimportant  now 
to  inquire  ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  seems  as  though  our 
government  ought  to  have  wisdom  enough  to  establish 
19* 


216  A   HISTORY    OF 

a  moneyed  institution,  based  upon  the  government  funds 
or  securities,  that  would  be  free  from  the  objections 
charged  upon  the  monster  beheaded  by  Jackson.  The 
specie,  sometimes  amounting  to  many  millions,  locked 
up  in  the  government  vaults,  ought  to  be  represented 
in  the  business  channels  of  the  country.  The  loss  of 
just  such  a  medium  as  the  government  might  gratuit- 
ously and  without  inconvenience  give  to  the  country,  is 
a  pure  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  party  prejudice  and 
folly.  In  a  country  like  this,  — where  the  undeveloped 
wealth  is  millions  and  millions  of  times  greater  than  the 
developed,  and  where  capital  bears  no  proportion  to  the 
country's  resources, — it  is  certainly  suicidal  to  adopt  and 
persist  in  a  system  which  takes  from  business  a  part  of 
its  limited  capital.  The  government  might  supply,  to  a 
proper  extent,  a  circulating  paper  currency,  which  would 
not  only  facilitate  exchanges,  but  likewise  to  some  extent 
equalize  the  rate  of  interest,  useful  everywhere,  and 
shedding  untold  blessings  upon  the  border  states. 

But  the  veto  of  the  Bank  charter  so  early  in  1832 
brought  the  whole  question  fully  into  the  campaign  of 
that  year.  Everything  that  well  could  have  been  said 
upon  the  subject  of  currency  was  urged  by  Clay  and 
Webster,  and  by  thousands  of  others,  statesmen  and 
editors,  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  veto  detached 
many  leading  and  influential  men,  in  various  sections  of 
the  land,  from  the  support  of  Jackson.  The  storm  of 
abuse  that  burst  upon  him  was  terrific.  He  was  de- 
nounced as  a  tyrant.  At  the  capitol,  and  at  the  most 
business  points  throughout  the  country,  the  scolders 
seemed  to  be  largely  in  the  ascendency.  Judging  from 
the  declamation,  and  the  tone  of  the  press,  one  would 
suppose  an  entire  revolution  in  public  sentiment  had 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  217 

taken  place.  But  during  this  dark  hour  it  was  said 
that  the  old  hero  —  as  the  President  was  usually  called 
—  remained  unmoved,  and  expressed  unshaken  confi- 
dence that  the  people  would  sustain  him.  And  in  this 
he  was  not  mistaken.  His  knowledge  of  human  nature 
was  superior,  as  it  turned  out,  to  that  of  any  of  his 
competitors.  The  storm  of  indignation  raised  by  bank 
capitalists,  speculators,  merchants,  and  manufacturers, 
redounded  upon  the  heads  of  his  opponents.  The  peo- 
ple only  saw  a  fierce  conflict  between  their  beloved  hero 
and  a  moneyed  aristocracy.  They  saw  him  assailed 
by  the  champions  of  privilege,  the  advocates  of  banks 
and  other  corporations,  and  the  old  general  became 
dearer  to  them  than  ever.  That  his  enemies  were  loud 
in  praise  of  a  tariff  was  enough  to  excite  the  jealousy 
and  hostility  of  the  populace  against  that  measure.  The 
second  election  of  General  Jackson  was  more  triumph, 
ant  than  the  first.  His  administration  was  endorsed  by 
the  people,  and  his  opponents  rebuked  in  a  terrible 
manner.  Out  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  votes,  Jack- 
son received  two  hundred  and  nineteen ;  Henry  Clay 
forty-nine  ;  John  Floyd  eleven ;  arid  William  Wirt  seven. 
The  votes  for  Floyd,  a  Virginia  ex-governor,  were  cast 
by  South  Carolina ;  and  the  seven  cast  for  Mr.  Wirt 
were  cast  by  Vermont,  which  was  at  the  time  uncom- 
monly exercised  by  the  masonic  question.  Mr.  Van 
Buren  was  elected  Vice-President  by  one  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  out  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  votes. 
Pennsylvania  cast  her  votes  for  Jackson,  but  repudiated 
Van  Buren.  The  rejection  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  appoint- 
ment as  Minister  to  England,  if  prompted  by  political 
considerations,  proved  not  to  be  productive  of  very 
valuable  results  to  the  leaders  of  the  movement. 


218  A    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA  NULLIFICATION  ORDINANCE. THE  HIGHER-LAW  FANAT- 
ICISM OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA  CONSIDERED. THE  RESOLUTION  OF  A  PEO- 
PLE TO  RESIST  A  LAW  OF  THE  LAND  AN  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  WANT  OF  A 
CHRISTIAN  SPIRIT. THE  APPROVAL  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  NOT  NECES- 
SARY TO  RENDER  A  LAW  BINDING  ON  HIS  CONSCIENCE. EXEMPTION 

FROM    THE   FORCE    OF    THE   LAWS    OF    SOCIETY    BY    APPEAL   TO    HIGHER 
LAWS    A   BADGE  OF  PAGANISM.  —  THE  AMERICAN  DOCTRINE,  ETC. ,  ETC. 

THE  vote  of  South  Carolina,  at  the  election  of  1832, 
was  cast  for  William  Floyd.  Her  politics  were  greatly 
perturbed.  The  modification  of  the  tariff  by  the  act  of 
1832  had  not  been  satisfactory.  The  result  of  the  presi- 
dential election,  although  it  had  virtually  settled  the 
tariff  question  favorably  for  the  South,  did  not  arrest 
the  course  of  the  nullifiers,  but  immediately  after  that 
election,  to  wit,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  Novem- 
ber, appeared  the  celebrated  oidinance  of  nullification. 
When  everything  is  considered,  perhaps  it  will  be  thought 
that  there  was  nothing  remarkably  strange  in  the  course 
taken  by  the  disaffected  Carolinians.  The  philosophic 
reader  will  see  in  their  performances  but  a  repetition 
of  one  of  the  most  common  phases  of  human  nature.  It 
should  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  for  several 
years  the  people  of  that  spirited  state  had  labored  un- 
der the  belief  that  they  were  the  victims  of  unconsti- 
tutional legislation  —  that  they  were  plundered  to  enrich 
other  sections  of  the  country.  Such  thoughts  would 
not  be  comfortable  to  the  coolest-tempered  people  in 
the  world  ;  and  having  been  for  a  long  time  entertained 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  219 

by  the  Carolinians,  the  result  could  hardly  be  consid- 
ered surprising.  People  in  such  a  situation  should  not 
be  expected  to  construe  the  Constitution  with  the  im- 
partiality of  a  disinterested  spectator.  Their  case  is 
daily  seen  everywhere.  The  opposite  litigants  in  a  law- 
suit are  equally  confident  of  their  respective  construc- 
tions of  a  statute,  as  passion  ever  affords  a  medium  for 
vision  that  never  illuminates  but  one  side  of  the  ques- 
tion. Such  an  exciting  agitation  could  not  for  a  long 
time  continue  without  leading  to  ultraism  —  without 
engendering  fanaticism.  When  a  people  imagine  them- 
selves the  subjects  of  oppression,  and  this  conviction  is 
continued  for  any  length  of  time,  it  would  be  strange 
indeed  if  their  feelings  and  measures  should  be  pre- 
cisely adjusted  to  the  necessities  of  their  redress  of 
grievances.  This  would  not  be  natural.  Reason,  it  is 
true,  is  the  highest  of  human  faculties  ;  but  it  would 
accomplish  but  little  without  the  aid  of  passion.  Like 
a  pent-up  river,  the  longer  the  passions  are  obstructed, 
the  more  they  accumulate,  until  at  last  no  barrier  will 
restrain  them.  One-idea  people,  as  they  are  called,  are 
fearful  folks.  Whether  that  one  idea  be  a  wrong  of 
their  own,  or  of  a  fellow-being,  makes  but  slight  differ- 
ence ;  for,  if  we  adopt  a  neighbor's  quarrel,  we  in  effect 
make  it  our  own.  But  Carolina  was  aroused  for  her 
own  rights,  and  little  did  her  sons  stop  to  calculate  their 
strength,  or  to  consider  the  consequences.  What  though 
the  whole  Union,  with  an  efficient  army  and  navy,  stood 
arrayed  against  them?  What  though  the  President 
thought  them  in  the  wrong,  and  was  resolved  to  exe- 
cute the  act  of  Congress  which  was  so  odious  and  hate- 
ful ?  What  though  every  statesman  and  jurist  in  the 
land  had  held  such  acts,  as  the  one  in  question,  consti- 


220  A   HISTORY   OF 

tional?  What  though  Congress,  and  all  the  heads  of 
the  departments,  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  people  of 
South  Carolina  were  carried  away  by  a  fanatical  hatred 
of  a  law  that  was  not  only  constitutional,  but  perhaps 
useful  and  necessary  for  the  whole  country  ?  What 
though  the  duty  of  the  Carolinians,  if  dissatisfied  with 
an  act  of  Congress,  was  plainly  pointed  out  in  the  Con- 
stitution ?  Fanaticism  was  never  awed  or  moved  by 
such  considerations.  The  tariff  was  thought  unconsti- 
tutional—  oppressive  —  a  blow  at  the  liberties  of  the 
South.  Constitutional  remedies  could  not  be  thought 
of.  Every  heart  was  inspired  with  a  higher  law.  The 
disaffected  with  one  voice  resolved  that  the  odious  act 
should  not  be  executed.  They  could  not  conceive  it 
possible  for  them  to  be  in  an  error ;  their  reason  told 
them  that  the  law  was  a  nullity  ;  the  promptings  of  their 
consciences,  which  they  could  not  disobey,  taught  them 
that  obedience  would  be  degradation,  and  morally  infa- 
mous. There  are  no  people  on  earth  that  are  without 
a  God,  or  destitute  of  consciences.  The  people  of  South 
Carolina,  although  nullifiers  and  slave-holders,  are  not, 
probably,  formed  much  differently  from  those  of  the 
North.  They  are  of  the  same  race,  possessing  the  same 
moral,  intellectual,  and  physical  faculties  that  distin- 
guish their  Anglo-American  brothers  in  other  parts  of 
the  country.  Travellers  give  excellent  accounts  of  their 
characters,  representing  the  Carolinians  as  a  high- 
minded,  generous,  virtuous,  and,  in  every  respect,  an 
estimable  people.  Particular  and  minute  accounts  are 
given  by  some  travellers,  showing  them  possessed  of 
really  lovely  traits  of  character,  and  truly  eminent  for 
the  Christian  graces.  And  this  is  no  doubt  so.  The 
more  we  look  into  the  character  of  our  Southern  friends, 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  221 

the  more,  no  doubt,  we  shall  be  charmed  with  their 
good  qualities.  But  this  charitable  view  is,  nevertheless, 
only  found  behind  the  record.  We  should  not  be  allowed, 
prima  facie,  to  accord  to  South  Carolina  so  good  a  char- 
acter. We  could  not  suppose  that  a  people  which  had 
arrayed  themselves  against  a  law  of  Congress,  taken 
redress  into  their  own  hands,  and  refused  to  submit  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  were  Christians  ;  that  is,  true  followers  of  Christ, 
and  governed  by  his  precepts  and  example.  The  Caro- 
linians pronounced  a  law  of  the  general  government 
unrighteous  and  oppressive,  and  claimed  that  it  was 
not  binding  upon  their  consciences  !  They  scouted  at 
the  idea  of  resisting  that  law  from  pecuniary  considera- 
tions ;  they  were  impelled  to  resistance  by  conscience, 
which  could  not  be  bound  by  an  unjust  enactment. 
Here  was  their  fatal  error  —  their  departure  from  Chris- 
tian duty.  Their  Saviour,  who  was  no  less,  in  effect, 
than  the  Deity  himself,  held  the  laws  of  bloody  Tiberius 
binding  upon  his  conscience  ;  and  these  were  the  laws 
of  a  black-hearted  despot.  Then  whence  the  author- 
ity for  the  American  doctrine,  that  an  unjust  or  un- 
righteous law  is  not  binding  on  the  citizen's  conscience? 
Is  it  not  strange  that  people,  enjoying  the  most  equal 
and  just  government  that  ever  existed  on  earth,  should 
assume  that  the  acts  of  the  legislature  are  no  further 
binding  upon  their  consciences  than  in  accordance  with 
their  conceptions  of  right  or  wrong  ?  A  grosser  delu- 
sion than  the  theory  that  each  individual  must  test  the 
obligatory  force  of  a  law  by  the  dictates  of  his  own  con- 
science, never  existed  in  this  republic.  Conscience,  if 
exalted  to  such  an  imperial  position,  would  rule  the 
land  with  many  conflicting  laws.  What  this  sovereign 


222  A   HISTORY    OP 

would  establish  as  right  in  one  heart,  it  would  proscribe 
as  infamous  in  another.  Judging  by  experience  and 
observation,  we  should  suppose  conscience  to  be,  not 
an  intellectual  faculty,  but  a  moral  sentiment,  ever 
dependent  for  its  guidance  upon  the  intellect.  And  the 
fallibility  of  the  human  intellect  ought  not  to  be  doubted, 
and  was  not,  by  the  framers  of  our  government.  The 
fact  was  recognized  that  men  would  diifer,  in  their  ideas 
of  right  and  wrong,  about  many  things  ;  and  if  all 
government,  saving  the  immemorial  and  ordinary  one 
of  military  despotism,  had  been  postponed  until  all 
minds  should  become  impressed  with  the  same  ideas, 
and  the  same  sentiments  should  reign  in  all  hearts,  it  is 
quite  clear  that  our  republic  would  never  have  been 
established. 

The  Constitution  was  a  series  of  concessions  and 
compromises.  The  government  was  instituted  on  the 
principle  that  full,  complete  and  entire  obedience,  in  all 
time  to  come,  to  the  enactments  of  Congress,  should,  as 
a  compromise,  be  sacredly  observed.  The  legislative 
power,  it  was  expected,  might  frequently  act  contrary 
to  the  ideas  of  considerable  portions  of  the  people  ;  but 
the  solemn  pledge  and  oath  of  every  citizen  demand 
a  faithful  regard  and  observance  of  all  legislative  enact- 
ments. As  no  man  can  positively  say  that  his  mental 
powers  are  perfect ;  as  no  one  can  say  that  he  is  infal- 
lible ;  as  weakness,  imperfection  and  error,  are  acknowl- 
edged by  Christians  to  be  the  attributes  of  every  soul  ; 
as,  if  universal  consent  were  required  as  necessary  to 
make  a  law  obligatory  on  all,  no  government  nor  laws 
could  ever  be  made  ;  it  should  be  considered  nothing 
humiliating,  dangerous  nor  wrong,  for  the  most  eminent 
and  godly  men  to  submit  their  consciences  to  the  arbit- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  223 

rament  of  the  highest  authority  the  state  can  provide. 
Supposing  that,  prior  to  the  legislative  act,  a  radical 
difference  of  opinion  had  existed  ?  And  supposing 
that,  after  the  enactment,  the  dubious  citizen  cannot 
bring  his  mind  to  concur  with  the  opinion  of  the  legis- 
lators, shall  he  therefore  assume  that  the  law  has  no 
binding  force  upon  his  conscience  ?  That,  because  he 
has  not  the  same  light  that  illuminates  the  legislators, 
he  is  under  no  obligation  to  regard  their  acts  ?  Such, 
in  effect,  is  the  doctrine  of  those  who  profess  to  owe 
allegiance  to  a  law  higher  than  the  state.  That  such 
views  in  a  Protestant  country  should  obtain  any  cur- 
rency would  be  strange.  Romanism  has  ever  been 
charged  with  raising,  and  assuming  to  raise,  its  head 
above  the  temporal  power  ;  and  the  presumption  of  the 
priesthood,  in  holding  allegiance  to  a  power  superior  to 
the  state,  has  ever  been  violently  denounced  by  the 
opponents  of  that  sect.  And  it  really  seems  a  power- 
ful objection  to  that  religion,  if  its  priests  really  do 
claim  to  owe  allegiance  to  a  head  that  claims  the  right 
of  testing  legislative  acts  by  a  higher  law,  before  they 
shall  become  binding  upon  the  consciences  of  its  fol- 
lowers. Such  doctrines  can  only  be  tolerated  by  the 
benighted  subjects  of  a  priesthood.  They  are  the  same 
that  for  ages  have  bound  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  in 
blind  idolatry,  and  nourished  the  despotisms  which  have 
ground  the  masses  of  mankind  into  the  dust.  In  the 
East,  from  ages  remote,  the  civil  magistrate  has  been 
subordinate  to  the  priests  of  Brahma,  Juggernaut,  or 
some  other  all-powerful  god.  In  Greece  and  Rome 
the  priest  of  Jupiter  was  more  regarded  than  the 
decrees  of  senates.  In  the  modern  states  of  Europe 
the  Pope's  ancient  temporal  power  has  been  divided 
20 


224  A   HISTORY    OF 

amongst  the  prevailing  monarchies.  Formerly  European 
kings  reigned  subject  to  the  supervision  and  control  of 
the  man  of  God,  whose  higher  law  could  dethrone  and 
crown  them  at  pleasure  ;  but  in  modern  days  kingcraft 
has  swallowed  up  priestcraft,  and  it  is  only  by  virtue  of 
the  divinity  which  modern  rnonarchs  have  ravished  from 
the  See  of  Rome  that  kings  claim  and  are  believed  to 
reign  by  "  divine  right. "  But  America,  the  world 
supposes,  has  nevjer  imported  to  her  shores  any  of  the 
craft  of  kings  and  priests  that  has  enslaved  mankind 
since  the  creation.  Our  government  was  formed  on  the 
theory  that  it  was  to  be  purely  a  government  of  men. 
Such  a  thing  as  a  divine  interpreter  of  the  will  of  the 
Deity  was  not  thought  of.  The  people  recognized,  in. 
the  formation  of  their  institutions,  no  power  but  that 
which  emanated  from,  and  centred  in,  themselves. 
They  contemplated  no  government  that  should  ever 
recognize  or  be  in  subjection  to  an  order  of  men  claiming 
allegiance  to  higher  powers,  or  charged  with  duties  in- 
compatible with  an  observance  of  the  laws  of  the  state. 
In  the  construction  of  this  government,  no  state  was 
more  prominent  than  South  Carolina,  and  her  patriots 
and  statesmen  ranked  with  the  first  in  America.  Their 
vigilance,  their  caution,  and  their  wisdom,  are  embodied 
in  our  Constitution.  It  is  the  legacy  of  the  great  and 
good  men  of  their  day,  and  is  the  proudest  monument 
that  could  be  erected  to  their  memory ;  and  we  never 
look  at  or  think  of  that  glorious  instrument  without 
bringing  to  mind  those  immortal  men  by  whom  it  was 
formed.  Should  it  endure  ten  thousand  years,  it  could 
not  outlive  their  memory  and  glory.  As  its  destruction 
would  be  the  overthrow  of  the  most  durable  monument 
that  can  keep  in  remembrance  and  love  the  great  states- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  225 

men  that  formed  it,  its  preservation  should  be  passion- 
ately desired  by  every  American  who  has  any  regard 
for  the  glory  of  his  ancestors.  The  government  left  to 
us  by  those  ancestors  is  no  despotism.  It  is  based  upon 
the  principle  of  self-government,  and  substitutes  the 
will  of  the  people,  lawfully  expressed,  for  the  rule  of  a 
hereditary  aristocracy,  and  a  priesthood.  Every  guard 
against  unjust  laws  is  provided  that  it  was  possible  to 
provide.  Laws  must  be  passed  by  a  majority  of  the 
direct  representatives  ;  then  by  a  majority  of  the  Sen- 
ate ;  and,  finally,  be  approved  by  the  President,  and  by 
him  signed,  before  they  become  obligatory.  Thinking 
that,  even  with  all  these  deliberate  steps  in  the  enact- 
ment of  laws,  some  unconstitutional  ones  might  occa- 
sionally be  made,  another  department  of  government 
was  established,  with  full  power  to  revise  and  pass 
upon  all  legislative  acts.  A  judiciary,  composed  of 
learned,  independent  and  disinterested  judges,  was 
provided,  before  which  any  law  of  Congress  may  be 
brought,  by  proper  steps,  for  adjudication.  And  here 
all  resorts  against  a  law  of  the  land  must  end.  Good 
or  bad,  just  or  unjust,  constitutional  or  unconstitutional, 
in  the  eyes  of  a  citizen,  after  an  act  has  been  passed 
through  all  the  regular  forms,  and  adjudicated  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  Constitution,  it  is,  and  must  remain,  until  that 
adjudication  be  reversed,  an  obligatory  law.  There  is 
no  duty  to  a  higher  law  that  will  absolve  the  citizen's 
conscience  from  its  observance.  If  his  wisdom  and 
feelings  distrust  the  correctness  of  the  law,  it  is  proper 
for  him  to  agitate  its  repeal,  or  try  it  by  all  constitu- 
tional remedies  and  tests  ;  but  to  undertake  to  oppose 
or  thwart  its  execution,  renders  him  a  traitor ;  and  to 


226  A    HISTORY    OF 

deny  its  obligatory  force  on  his  conscience,  and  refuse 
to  execute  it,  is  to  incur  the  guilt  of  perjury. 

South  Carolina  refused  to  resort  to  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  for  redress.  In  this  she  was  governed  by 
passion.  She  seemed  to  distrust  that  tribunal.  She  sup- 
posed that,  as  the  Northern,  Middle  and  Western  States 
were  all  favorable  to  the  system  of  protection,  a  major- 
ity of  the  judges  would  be  opposed  to  her.  However, 
her  leaders  were  high-minded  men  ;  and,  although  they 
distrusted  the  impartiality  of  the  national  tribunal,  they 
had  the  decency  to  observe  towards  it  a  respectful 
bearing,  and  made  no  efforts  to  bring  it  into  contempt, 
break  it  down,  and  destroy  its  authority  with  the 
people. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  227 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

SOUTH    CAROLINA    ORDINANCE    TOO   LATE.  —  THE    FATE    OF    THE    TARIFFS 

SETTLED  BY  THE  ELECTION. JACKSON'S  COURSE  IN  REGARD  TO  SOUTH 

CAROLINA. SUSTAINED     BY    WEBSTER. COURSE     OF     CALHOUN. 

COMPROMISE    ACT. REVOLUTION    OF    MEASURES    DURING     JACKSON'S 

ADMINISTRATION. HIS    ADMINISTRATION     FURTHER    CONSIDERED. 

THIS  COUNTRY  NO  FOREIGN  OR  DOMESTIC  POLICY.  TRUE    POLICY  FOR 

US. EXCESS  OF  IMPORTS  AND  EFFECT. COMMERCE   WITHOUT   MANU- 
FACTURES   WILL    EXHAUST     THE      COUNTRY. WITHOUT    THE    LABOR 

EMPLOYED     ON    THE    RAW    MATERIAL     OBTAINED    FROM    THE    UNITED 

STATES,    BRITISH     COMMERCE    WOULD    BE     COMPARATIVELY    SMALL. 

FOLLY     OF    EXPORTING    OUR    RAW  MATERIAL   TO    BUILD    UP  A   RIVAL, 
WHEN  IT  MIGHT  GIVE  AMERICA  THE  MONOPOLY    OF   THE    COMMERCE  OF 

THE  WORLD.  BRITISH   SYSTEM. HER    AMBITION    TO    PRODUCE    THE 

RAW    MATERIAL.  THE    INSANE    IDEA    OF   THE  SOUTH  THAT   ENGLAND 

IS  TO  BE  HER  ONLY  MARKET   FOR   COTTOH    SUICIDAL  TO    THE  COUNTRY, 
ETC. 

THE  people  of  South  Carolina,  in  convention  at  Co- 
lumbia, on  the  twenty-fourth  of  November  issued  their 
ordinance  of  nullification,  declaring-  all  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress, then  in  force,  laying  duties  on  foreign  importa- 
tions, unconstitutional,  null  and  void,  and  of  no  binding 
effect  on  the  citizens  of  that  state.  The  ordinance 
further  ordered  that  it  should  not  be  lawful  for  the  ' 
authorities  of  that  state,  nor  of  the  United  States  in 
that  state,  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  those  revenue 
acts.  It  also  further  ordained,  among  other  things, 
that  there  should  be  no  appeal  from  the  state  to  the 
United  States  court,  on  any  question  involving  the 
legality  of  these  acts,  and  provided  that  if  the  United 
20* 


228  A    HISTORY    OF 

States  government  should  attempt  to  coerce  the  state 
into  submission,  it  would  secede  from  the  Union,  and 
form  itself  into  an  independent  government.  This  ordi- 
nance was  by  its  terms  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of 
the  ensuing  February. 

But  the  ordinance  of  Carolina  came  too  late.  There 
was  a  moment  when,  perhaps,  this  step  would  have 
occasioned  demonstrations,  to  some  extent,  in  other 
Southern  States,  as  the  protective  system  had  many 
enemies  in  that  section  of  the  country.  Two  things 
had  occurred  to  injure  this  movement  of  Carolina ; 
namely,  the  speech  of  Mr.  Webster  in  reply  to  Colonel 
Hayne,  in  1830,  which  had  demonstrated  that  forcible 
resistance  to  a  law  of  the  United  States  is  treason  ;  and 
the  then  recent  presidential  election,  which  was  consid- 
ered a  popular  verdict  against  the  American  system. 
The  ominous  cloud  raised  by  the  first  breath  of  nullifi- 
cation had  been  dispelled.  The  powerful  speech  of  Mr. 
Webster  found  a  ready  response  in  the  American  heart 
everywhere,  and  was  as  cordially  received  by  an  en- 
lightened and  patriotic  minority  in  South  Carolina  as 
anywhere  else.  The  union  sentiment  was  all-pervading 
and  powerful ;  and,  after  that  able  performance  of  Mr. 
Webster,  in  which  he  riddled  to  atoms  the  web  of 
higher-law  nullification  sophistry,  went  forth  to  the 
country,  no  one  saw  any  worse  event  of  the  South 
Carolina  movement  than  a  disgraceful  retreat,  or  a 
tremendous  flogging  of  the  nullifiers. 

Many  doubted  General  Jackson's  political  wisdom, 
and  thought  his  administration,  in  many  respects,  a  blun- 
der ;  but  no  one  questioned  his  high-toned  patriotism. 
To  him  the  conduct  of  South  Carolina  looked  exceed- 
ingly childish.  That  the  people  of  that  state  could 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  229 

successfully  resist  the  general  government,  or  subvert 
the  laws  of  the  land,  scarcely  occurred  to  the  President. 
He  had  no  doubt  but  he  could  execute  the  trust  reposed 
in  him  by  the  American  people  ;  and  he  had  no  idea  of 
attempting  to  escape  from  the  duties  of  that  trust. 
The  menacing  attitude  of  Carolina  looked  to  him  like  a 
farce.  All  remember  his  kind,  conciliating,  but  able, 
firm  and  dignified,  proclamation  to  the  people  of  that 
state.  This  was  issued  December  the  tenth.  It  took 
the  same  ground,  and  made  use  of  the  same  arguments, 
advanced  by  Webster,  in  his  celebrated  Hayne  speech. 
And  he  gave  the  people  of  South  Carolina  to  understand 
distinctly  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment should  be  executed.  The  excitement  among  the 
nullifiers,  however,  was  not  mitigated  by  the  Presi- 
dent's proclamation,  but  rather  aggravated.  The  state 
began  to  put  herself  into  a  hostile  attitude  ;  to  organize 
a  military  force,  supply  herself  with  the  munitions  of 
war,  &c.  But  the  end  of  that  controversy  is  familiar 
to  all.  The  recent  election  had  called  for  a  reduction 
of  the  tariff,  and,  with  that  reduction,  as  by  a  parachute, 
South  Carolina  was  let  down  from  the  precipice  over 
which  she  was  hanging.  The  leading  nullifiers,  how- 
ever, had  some  little  occasion  for  serious  reflection 
before  the  issue  of  their  troubles.  President  Jackson's 
character  was  well  known,  and  it  was  found  that  he 
was  not  disposed  to  trifle  with  those  who  had  put  at 
defiance  a  law  which  duty  and  honor  called  upon  him 
to  execute.  He  began  to  take  careful  and  sj^stem- 
atic  steps  in  the  business,  and,  if  it  had  been  necessary 
for  blood  to  flow,  the  example  which  he  would  have 
made  of  the  leaders  of  so  daring  a  resistance  to  the 
government  would  have  been  a  warning  to  nullifiers  for 


230  A  HISTORY   OF 

ages.  In  President  Jackson's  movements  in  the  prem- 
ises, he  received,  and,  it  is  said,  solicited,  the  aid 
of  Mr.  Webster.  The  Force  Bill  recommended  by  the 
President,  was  sustained  by  Mr.  Webster  in  the  Senate. 
Mr.  Calhoun  threw  into  the  controversy  all  his  powers. 
His  famous  nullification  resolutions  were  introduced 
about  the  middle  of  February,  and  his  speech  upon 
them  was  the  ablest  he  ever  made.  Mr.  Webster  re- 
plied to  him  in  full,  and,  with  overwhelming  force, 
demolished  the  whole  citadel  of  nullification,  so  that  not 
a  respectable  fragment  remains  to  adorn  the  antiqua- 
rian's cabinet. 

But  with  the  ruin  of  the  South  Carolina  doctrine  of 
states'  rights  and  higher  laws,  came  another  ruin, 
whose  wrecks,  relics,  and  fragments,  are  abundantly 
numerous.  These  ruins  were  cotemporary,  but  not 
necessarily  connected  with  and  dependent  on  each 
other.  With  the  ruin  of  nullification  expired  the  pro- 
tective system  which  had  existed  from  1816.  Mr.  Clay 
was  the  parent  and  protector  of  that  system,  and  was 
at  this  time  seriously  alarmed  for  its  safety.  A  presi- 
dential election  had  just  taken  place,  bringing  with  it 
the  election  of  a  new  Congress,  and  the  principles  of 
free  trade  had  triumphed.  The  present  Congress  was 
friendly  to  his  system  ;  but  he  saw  that  the  next  one 
would  be  its  enemy.  Mr.  Verplank  had  introduced 
a  bill  entirely  destroying  the  protective  system  ;  but 
although  it  was  not  apprehended  that  this  bill  would 
meet  with  success  at  that  session,  the  success  of  it  at 
the  next  seemed  certain.  Mr.  Clay  was  justly  alarmed. 
Under  the  protective  acts  of  1816,  1824,  and  1828, 
millions  of  dollars  had  been  invested  in  manufacturing 
establishments,  which,  by  the  sudden  repeal  of  those 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  231 

acts,  would  be  a  total  sacrifice ;  and  the  voice  of  the 
American  people,  as  indicated  by  the  late  election, 
demanded  the  repeal.  In  this  emergency  Mr.  Clay 
brought  forward  his  compromise.  He  offered  it  as  an 
amendment  to  Mr.  Verplank's  bill.  The  measure  pro- 
vided for  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  rate  of  duties  for 
ten  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  (1842)  there 
would  remain  only  a  horizontal  revenue  duty  of  twenty 
per  cent.  By  this  compromise,  the  change  from  the  pro- 
tective to  the  revenue  system  would  be  gradual,  and 
those  having  capital  invested  in  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments be  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Mr. 
Calhoun  and  his  friends  embraced  the  overture  as  satis- 
factory. It  readily  passed,  and  put  an  end  to  the 
famous  South  Carolina  difficulty. 

Without  dwelling  upon  those  familiar  acts  of  Jack- 
son's administration,  such  as  the  veto  of  internal 
improvement  bills,  the  veto  of  the  bill  to  charter  the 
United  States  Bank,  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from 
the  old  bank,  and  placing  them  in  the  state  banks,  it 
may  in  brief  be  said  that,  during  his  administration,  the 
leading  principles  of  our  national  policy  underwent  an 
entire  retrograde  revolution.  The  elevation  of  Jackson 
was  effected  in  opposition  to  the  views  and  feelings  of 
the  greatest  statesmen  of  the  Democratic  party ;  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  as  already  seen,  that  party  was 
dismembered,  and  old  and  well  tried  Madisonian  Demo- 
crats united  themselves  with  the  new-born  party,  which 
finally  went  by  the  name  of  Whig.  The  Democratic 
statesmen,  who  refused  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  Jack- 
son's political  camp,  adhered  to  the  principles  and  meas- 
ures of  Madison  and  Monroe  ;  and  the  President,  to  im- 
press his  Democracy  upon  the  people,  and  to  show 


232  A   HISTORY    OF 

himself  sounder  than  any  of  his  opponents,  professed, 
as  parties  since  his  days  have  done,  to  restore  the  prin- 
ciples of  Jefferson  in  their  purity.  Experience  was  val- 
ued as  nothing.  The  name  of  Jefferson  was  at  that 
day  potent  with  the  people.  He  was  recognized  as 
the  founder  of  Democracy,  and  hailed  as  one  of  the 
first  of  the  statesmen  and  patriots  of  the  Kevolution. 
His  ability  was  not  to  be  doubted.  He  was  well  read, 
and  profound,  — was  well  acquainted  with  constitutions 
and  the  governments  of  nations.  But,  at  the  outset  of 
our  government,  Mr.  Jefferson  made  many  suggestions, 
as  to  the  measures  of  domestic  policy,  which  time  and 
experience  showed  to  be  impracticable,  or  not  profitable. 
In  fact  he  lived  to  acknowledge  his  mistakes  in  regard 
to  many  measures  ;  but  no  one,  on  account  of  this, 
thought  any  the  less  of  his  wisdom  and  patriotism. 
No  one,  without  trial,  could  have  foreseen  exactly  what 
policy  in  every  respect  was  to  be  best  suited  to  a  young 
country  just  starting  into  existence  like  this.  However, 
nearly  forty  years'  experience  had,  it  was  thought,  de- 
monstrated the  prudence  if  not  necessity  of  certain  meas- 
ures ;  and  when  Jackson  proposed  to  ignore  this  experi- 
ence, and  disclaim  the  wisdom  which  unwearied  research, 
discussion  and  observation,  had  taught  such  men  as 
Madison,  Monroe,  J.  Q,  Adams,  Henry  Clay,  Calhoun, 
Crawford,  Loundes,  Cheeves,  and  many  more,  all  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democrats,  it  was  not  strange  that  the  most 
intelligent  statesmen  of  the  country  should  oppose  him. 
But  there  was  no  remedy  for  the  mistake  of  his  eleva- 
tion and  rule :  he  was  not  a  man  that  could  come  into 
power  under  the  lead  of  experienced  and  able  states- 
men, and  subject  himself  to  their  advice  and  guidance. 
He  must  command,  or  have  no  part  in  the  councils  of  the 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  233 

nation.  It  is  true,  he  was  dependent  on  subordinates 
for  light  and  direction  in  many  things  ;  but  these  subor- 
dinates never  presumed  to  offer  him  advice  and  counsel : 
they  had  the  address  to  discover,  as  by  intuition,  the 
opinion  and  judgment  of  their  chief  on  important 
measures,  and  simply  limited  themselves  to  an  humble 
approbation  of  the  same.  The  courage,  the  independ- 
ence of  mind,  the  resolution,  and  the  decision  of  char- 
acter of  General  Jackson,  were  as  well  known  as  his 
name.  But  for  all  this,  when  measures  dictated  by  the 
abstruse  principles  of  political  economy  were  to  be 
adopted,  he  could  not  be  otherwise  than  dependent  on 
others  ;  and  of  the  correctness  of  the  opinions  of  such 
others  as  he  might  repose  confidence  in,  how  could  he 
possibly  judge  ?  The  best  statesmen  of  the  day  were 
in  the  opposition.  He  would  not  have  placed  inferior 
men  in  his  cabinet,  had  he  not  been  compelled  by  neces- 
sity to  do  so.  That  he  would  have  been  proud  to  have 
Clay  or  Webster  in  his  cabinet,  no  one  can  doubt.  But 
the  politicians  on  whom  he  was  forced  to  recline  were 
emphatically  adventurers.  They  were  ambitious  of  ad- 
vancement, and  were  laboring  for  a  dynasty  for  them- 
selves. Well  tried  and  approved  Democratic  principles, 
embraced  by  their  distinguished  opponents,  were  to  be 
put  down,  and  new  ones  established,  or,  after  the  retire- 
ment of  Jackson,  they  would  have  no  claim  themselves 
upon  the  country  for  elevation.  It  therefore  became  an; 
imperative  necessity  for  them  to  establish  a  new  sys- 
tem of  national  policy  ;  and  this,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
done. 

President  Jackson  commenced  his  administration  when 
the  country  was  under  the  full  tide  of  experiment  in  the 
principles  of  Madison,  Monroe  and  Adams.  Our  for- 


234  A   HISTORY   OF 

eign  and  domestic  policy  was  that  established  under 
these  presidents.  The  country  was  at  the  height  of  its 
prosperity  as  Jackson  entered  the  presidential  chair, 
and  his  term  of  administration  seemed  just  long  enough 
to  work  an  entire  revolution  of  the  measures  of  his 
predecessors.  The  consequences  of  his  acts  were  pre- 
dicted ;  and  if  they  fell  as  a  legacy  to  his  succes- 
sor, it  may  be  said,  in  the  figure  of  the  poet,  that 
they  were  visitations  to  "plague  the  inventor."  The 
grounds  on  which  all  his  changes  of  policy  were  made 
were  theoretical.  There  was  at  the  time  no  occasion 
for  complaint  that  the  country  was  not  prosperous  and 
happy,  as  the  prosperity  of  that  day  has  not  been 
exceeded.  This  the  President  acknowledged.  The 
country  had  at  previous  periods  passed  through  revul- 
sions, panics,  and  all  sorts  of  monetary  distresses.  The 
causes  of  such  reverses  and  calamities  had  been  exam- 
ined into  carefully,  and  a  course  of  policy  adopted,  as 
was  thought,  that  would  avert  the  future  recurrence  of 
such  convulsions  in  the  business  of  the  country.  But 
the  muniments  provided  against  these  revulsions  by  the 
safest  statesmen,  considering  their  experience  as  well 
as  ability,  that  our  country  has  produced,  were  all  swept 
away  by  the  administration  of  Jackson  ;  and  the  inse- 
curity for  which  our  business  and  monetary  systems 
were  noted  in  early  times  has  continued  to  the  present 
day.  The  fact  is,  we  are  a  country  without  any  policy 
at  all,  either  foreign  or  domestic  ;  we  are  at  the  mercy 
of  the  world,  and  are  only  kept  from  bankruptcy  by  an 
uncommon  run  of  good  fortune.  With  natural  advan- 
tages only  equal  to  other  countries,  we  should  long  ago 
have  been  in  the  abyss  of  destitution  and  poverty.  But 
to  acquire  our  new  lands,  the  millions  of  men  arid  gold 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  235 

from  Europe  are  constantly  pouring  in  upon  us,  and,  as 
if  to  compensate  us  for  our  want  of  wisdom  and  fore- 
sight, some  good-natured  deity  has  thrown  into  our  lap 
rich  treasures  of  the  precious  metal.  With  these  provi- 
dential advantages,  we  can  nearly  keep  clear  from  debt 
to  foreign  nations,  but  not  quite.  The  day  is  at  hand 
when  our  prosperity  will  depend  more  on  our  principles 
of  economy  than  it  has  heretofore,  and  when  nothing 
but  attention  to  those  principles  will  save  us  from  the 
wretchedness  of  worse  than  colonial  serfdom. 

The  resolution  and  fierceness  with  which  General 
Jackson  placed  his  foot  upon  that  monster,  the  United 
States  Bank,  has  been  recited  and  sung  for  years. 
But  the  currency  question  is  not  one  that  can  well  be 
considered  by  itself.  The  interests  of  agriculture, 
manufactures  and  commerce,  are  so  blended  with  the 
question  of  currency,  that  the  latter  cannot  well 
be  detached  from  the  others  and  viewed  separately. 
The  currency  is  not  properly  speaking  an  interest ;  it 
is  an  instrument.  Prosperity  is  less  dependent  on  it 
than  on  the  substantial  interests  of  the  country.  With- 
out this  instrument  of  course  there  could  be  no  busi- 
ness. It  is  to  the  community  and  the  world  what  the 
blood  is  to  the  human  body.  It  is  a  medium  for  the 
transmission  of  nutriment  to  all  parts  of  the  system, 
and  indispensable  to  all  growth  or  increase. 

If  the  farmer  would  stretch  out  his  mind  from  the 
limits  of  his  farm  to  the  bounds  of  his  country,  and 
look  upon  that  country  as  a  great  family,  to  be  provided 
for,  governed,  and  regulated,  on  such  principles  as  each 
prudent  family  is  controlled,  he  would  at  once  become 
a  political  economist  and  statesman,  and  find  no  diffi- 
culty in  determining  what  measures  are  indispensable 
21 


236  A   HISTORY   OP 

for  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  Good  common  sense 
would  be  all  that  is  requisite  for  a  solution  of  the  great 
questions  that  have  so  much  agitated  parties  for  years, 
if  a  person  could  only  break  through  the  mists  that  theo- 
rists and  politicians  have  thrown  over  these  subjects. 

As  with  the  family,  the  nation  that  consumes  or  im- 
ports more  than  it  produces  is  on  the  road  to  bank- 
ruptcy. A  fortunate  concurrence  of  circumstances  may 
for  a  while  keep  its  tottering  head  from  beating  the 
earth  ;  but,  in  the  end,  such  a  country  must  fall.  I  say 
tottering  head,  because  our  country  is  meant.  These 
continually  recurring  monetary  revulsions  are  but  the 
too  palpable  effects  of  its  crippled  and  debilitated 
faculties,  showing  that  it  is  only  with  the  utmost  diffi- 
culty and  pain  that  it  can  stagger  along.  This  is  the 
country,  the  improvident  country,  that  has  ever  im- 
ported more  than  it  has  exported.  The  amount  of  the 
excess  of  imports  over  the  exports  is  familiar  to  all  who 
take  the  trouble  to  inspect  the  reports  of  the  depart- 
ments. A  glance  at  the  figures  will  show  what  reason 
would  have  required  us  to  expect.  Passion  and  party 
frenzy  may  blind  a  man  to  obvious  facts,  or  render  him 
indifferent  to  things  dimly  seen  through  the  mists  of 
prejudice  ;  but  every  sensible  and  unbiassed  mind  will  at 
once  confess  that  a  system  which  constantly  exhausts, 
and  never  replenishes,  our  national  resources,  must  be 
ruinous.  Without  going  back  further  than  to  the  admin- 
istration of  Monroe,  we  see  that  the  excess  of  our  im- 
ports over  exports  —  taking  no  notice  of  foreign  goods 
exported  included  in  the  account  —  was,  during  his 
second  term,  upwards  of  $16,000,000.  During  J.  Q. 
Adams's  term,  upwards  of  $1*7,500,000  ;  during  General 
Jackson's  first  term,  about  $35,000,000  ;  and,  during  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  237 

second  term,  upwards  of  $129,000,000.  There  has  been 
scarcely  a  year  since  that  the  imports  have  not  greatly 
exceeded  our  exports,  and  the  aggregate  of  the  excess 
of  our  imports  from  Jackson's  to  Buchanan's  adminis- 
tration, must  amount  to  several  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars. The  excess  of  our  importations  during  the  last 
term  of  President  Polk  was  upwards  of  $114,000,000, 
and  the  excess  from  1847  to  185*1  is  in  round  numbers 
upwards  of  $250,000,000!  * 

The  only  substantial  check  ever  attempted  for  these 

*  An  inspection  of  the  tables  annually  presented  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  will  show  the  following  astonishing  facts.  The  specie 
imported  during  ten  years,  from  1847,  immediately  after  the  tariff  of 
1846,  to  1857,  including  those  two  years  (fiscal  years), 

was $84,208,989 

Export  of  specie  and  bullion  during  same  period,  343,062,217 

Excess  of  exports  over  imports,     .  .  .  $258,853,228 

The  total  amount  of  imports  of  goods  and  specie 

during  the  same  period  was,     .  .  .        $2,566,350,318 

Exports,  specie  included,   ....          2,512,129,741 


Leaving  a  balance  of  indebtedness,  .  .  $54,220,577 

Or  thus : 

Imports,  exclusive  of  specie  from  1847  to  1857,    .        $2,482,141,329 
Exports,  exclusive  of  specie,    "       "      "     "        .          2,169,067,524 

Balance  of  trade  against  this  country,        .  .  $313,073,805 

What  does  this  show  but  a  clear  loss  to  this  country,  in  consequence 
of  its  want  of  policy,  of  upwai'ds  of  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars'! 
What  a  commentary  on  our  national  system  !  We  have  cast  the  specie 
exports  since  the  California  mines  commenced  their  products,  to  show 
into  whose  pockets  their  treasures  find  their  way.  The  reader  need 
not  be  told  that  this  is  all  wrong  ;  that  our  commercial  system  should 
have  been  such  as  to  have  saved  the  products  of  our  gold  mines, 


238 


A   HISTORY    OF 


undue  importations  were  the  tariff  enactments  of  1828, 
and  1842,  and  although  they  both  produced  marked 
effects,  their  continuance  was  too  brief  to  mar  the  sym- 
metry of  our  studied  system  of  folly  and  stupidity. 
Modern  secretaries  have  struggled  to  obscure  the  re- 
turns of  our  custom-houses,  and  to  break  the  effect  of 
their  prophetic  balances.  The  exportation  of  gold  has 
been  charged  in  the  accounts  of  our  exports,  to  render 
our  foreign  trade  apparently  more  equal ;  and,  in  the 
imports  of  specie,  the  money  brought  by  immigrants  is 
alluded  to  as  an  item  of  importance,  supposed  to  be 
large,  but  not  to  be  stated !  The  fact  is,  our  position 
is  a  ruinous  one,  and  every  candid  man  must  see  that 
our  policy  must  be  changed,  or  our  Californias,  and 
other  accidental  resources,  will  not  save  us  much  longer 
from  the  gulf  of  ruin. 

and,  instead  of  paying,  to  have  received  by  foreign  trade  a  balance 
of  one  or  two  hundred  millions  annually. 

EXPORTS   FROM   THE   UNITED   STATES   TO   FOREIGN   PORTS. 


Year 
ending 
June  30. 

Domestic  pro- 
duce. 

Foreign  pro- 
duce. 

Specie  and 
bullion. 

Total  exports. 

1845... 

$  98,455,330 

$  7,584,781 

$8,606,495 

$114,646,606 

1846... 

101,718,042 

7,865,206 

3,905,268 

113,488,516 

1847... 

150,574,844 

6,166,754 

1,907,024 

158,648,622 

1848... 

130,203,709 

7,986,806 

15,841,616 

154,032,131 

1849... 

131,710,081 

8,641,091 

5,404,648 

145,755,820 

1850... 

134,900,233 

9,475,493 

7,522,994 

151,898,720 

1851... 

173,620,138 

10,295,121 

29,472,752 

218,388,011 

1852... 

154,931,147 

12,037,043 

42,674,135 

209,642,325 

1853... 

189,869,162 

13,096,213 

27,486,875 

230,452,250 

1854... 

215,157,504 

21,661,137 

41,422,423 

278,241,064 

1855... 

192,751,135 

26,158,368 

56,247,343 

275,156,846 

1856... 

266,438,051 

14,781,372 

45,745,485 

326,964,908 

1857... 

278,906,713 

14,917,047 

69,136,922 

362,960,682 

1858... 

241,351,033 

20,660,241 

52,633,147 

324,644,421 

THE    WHIG    PARTY. 


239 


Since  General  Jackson's  administration,  our  country 
has  gone  back  to  its  earlier  condition.  Before  the  last 
war  with  England,  Massachusetts  asked  but  for  free 
trade,  as  restrictions  upon  importations,  it  was  thought, 
would  diminish  the  business  of  her  merchants  arid  skip- 
pers. For  a  while,  under  the  tariffs  of  1816  and  1824, 
she  invested  largely  in  manufactures  ;  but  the  incon- 
stancy of  government  in  rendering  protection  to  this 
interest  has  checked  its  extension,  and  the  main  inter- 
est of  that  state  is  again  seen  upon  the  ocean.  But 
recently  two  of  her  leading  statesmen,  of  her  dominant 
party,  proclaimed  for  free  trade.  For  a  few  years  past 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  country  have  prospered 
and  become  extended  with  great  rapidity.  California 
and  Australia  have  been  treasures  to  the  merchants  as 
well  as  to  the  miners  ;  and  the  extravagant  consump- 
tion by  our  people  of  foreign,  in  preference  to  domestic, 
goods,  has  caused  the  mercantile  interest  to  flourish. 
But  where,  in  the  end,  will  this  commerce  land  us  ? 

IMPORTS    INTO    THE    UNITED    STATES    FROM    FOREIGN    TORTS. 


Year 
ending 
June  30. 

Dutiable. 

Free  goods. 

Specie  and 
bullion. 

Total  imports. 

isuC 

$95,106,724 

$  18,077,598 

$4,070,242 

$117,254,564 

1816... 

96,924,058 

20,990,007 

3,777,732 

121,691,797 

1847... 

104,773,002 

17,651,347 

24,121,289 

146,545,638 

1848... 

132,282,325 

16,356,379 

6,360,224 

154,998,928 

1849... 

125,479,774 

15,726,425 

6,651,240 

147,857,439 

1850... 

155,427,936 

18,081,590 

4,628,792 

178,138,318 

1851... 

191,118,345 

19,652,995 

5,453,592 

216,224,932 

1852... 

183,252,508 

24,187,890 

5,505,044 

212,945,442 

1853... 

236,595,113 

27,182,152 

4,201,382 

267,978,647 

1854... 

271,276,560 

26,327,637 

6,958,184 

304,562,381 

1855... 

221,378,184 

36,430,524 

3,659,812 

261,468,520 

185G... 

257,684,236 

52,748,074 

4,207,632 

314,639,942 

1857... 

294,160,835 

54,267,507 

12,461,799 

360,890,141 

1858... 

202,293,875 

61,044,779 

19,274,496 

282,613,150 

21* 


240  A    HISTORY    OF 

Where  are  we  to  get  our  money  to  pay  these  constantly 
accruing  balances  against  us  ? 

Our  free-trade  friends  say  that  the  importations  should 
be  in  excess,  as  the  excess  indicates  the  profits.  Truly, 
Jonathan  is  kind  to  take  all  his  profits  in  nick-nacks, 
paying  for  his  ships,  labor,  and  expenses,  out  of  his 
home  purse  ! 

The  truth  is,  the  correct  policy  for  this  country  was 
overthrown  by  the  powerful  arm  of  General  Jackson  ; 
and  our  leading  statesmen,  who  plainly  see  the  deplora- 
able  condition  into  which  we  are  sinking,  admonished 
by  the  fate  of  Clay  and  Webster,  have  not  the  moral 
courage  to  espouse  the  correct  principles,  and  urge  them 
upon  the  country.  The  people  will  by  degrees  become 
enlightened  upon  the  subject,  and  in  this,  as  upon  the 
question  of  internal  improvements,  get  in  advance  of 
their  cowardly  leaders,  and  lead  them  to  the  right  path. 
It  was  a  promising  indication  to  see  a  Democratic  Con- 
gress, by  a  constitutional  majority,  pass  improvement 
bills  over  the  veto  of  Mr.  Pierce  ;  and  the  day  is  not  far 
distant  when  tariff  bills  will  be  enacted  either  with  or 
without  the  President's  consent.  This  will  be  brought 
about  by  sound  judgment  as  a  prudent  precaution,  or 
by  the  saddest  experiences,  which  never  apply  their 
teaching  in  vain.* 

*  As  evidence  of  the  great  change  going  on  amongst  the  Democrats 
in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  Protection,  we  may  mention  the  signifi- 
cant and  highly  encouraging  fact  that,  during  the  political  campaigns 
of  1858,  many  leading  Democrats,  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
emphatically  announced  themselves  in  favor  of  Protection.  Leading 
Democrats  in  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  states,  did  so. 
Mr.  Hallet  was  decided  upon  the  question  ;  and  from  the  Boston  Post, 
the  leading  organ  of  the  administration,  in  New  England,  we  extract 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  241 

It  has  ever  been  a  great  fault  of  the  people  of  this 
country  to  be  governed  more  by  party  spirit  than  by 
ideas  of  state  policy.  Every  countryman  should  think 
of  his  national  family,  as  well  as  of  his  domestic  circle. 
The  substantial  and  permanent  interests  of  the  country 
are  not  so  varied  as  to  be  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
any  person  of  ordinary  information  and  judgment,  if  he 
would  exclude  from  them  the  mists  of  speculating 

the  folloAving,  by  the  Post  copied  from  the  Pennsylvania!!,  a  leading 
Democratic  paper : 

"HENRY  CLAY  ON  THE  TARIFF.  —  To  those  old  line  Whigs  who 
sincerely  regard  the  opinions  of  Henry  Clay,  the  following  on  the  sub- 
ject of  a  tariff  are  commended  at  this  time.  In  1844,  when  Henry 
Clay  was  the  Whig  nominee  for  President,  he  delivered  a  speech  before 
a  meeting  of  his  political  friends  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  which 
speech  we  find  in  the  Clay  Bugle  of  July  25th,  1844,  a  Whig  cam- 
paign paper,  published  at  Harrisburg,  by  J.  Knabb,  Esq.  In  this 
speech  Mr.  Clay  makes  use  of  the  following  emphatic  language: 

"  '  Let  the  amount  which  is  requisite  for  an  economical  administration 
of  the  government,  when  we  are  not  engaged  in  war,  be  raised  exclu- 
sively on  foreign  imports  ;  and,  in  adjusting  a  tariff  for  that  purpose, 
let  such  discriminations  be  made  as  will  foster  and  encourage  our  own 
domestic  industry.  ALL  PARTIES  OUGHT  TO  BE  SATISFIED 
WITH  A  TARIFF  FOR  REVENUE  AND  DISCRIMINATIONS 
FOR  PROTECTION.' 

"  So  said  Henry  Clay  in  1844  ;  so  said  the  Democracy  from  the 
earliest  stages  of  the  tariff  issue,  and  so  say  they  now,  in  every 
public  meeting  that  passes  resolutions  concerning  the  tariff.  They 
have  been  honest  and  consistent  in  their  course,  while  the  Black 
Republicans  have  been  dishonest  in  every  act  with  reference  to  this 
important  issue.  Will  the  friends  of  Henry  Clay  join  with  that  party 
which  is  opposing  every  principle  which  he  laid  down  in  his  Raleigh 
speech?  Can  they  strike  hands  over  an  issue  which  their  great  leader 
would  not  accept  where  he  present  ?  Henry  Clay  said,  '  all  parties 
ought  to  be  satisfied  with  a  tariff  for  revenue  and  discriminations  for 
protection.'  The  Black  Republicans  are  not  satisfied  with  this,  and 


242  A     HISTORY   OF 

theorists,  and  look  at  them  in  the  light  of  common 
sense. 

As  with  the  family,  if  the  nation  would  become  rich 
it  must  sell  more  than  it  buys.  This  is  the  fundamen- 
tal principle  on  which  the  whole  system  of  political 
economy  must  be  based.  Unless  the  policy  adopted 
shall  attain  this  end,  it  will  be  an  erroneous  one.  The 
truth  of  this  position  will  be  acknowledged  by  every 

hence  are  opposed  to  the  principles  of  Henry  Clay.  Yet  this  faction 
asks  the  support  of  old  line  Whigs  ?  Such  an  appeal  is  an  insult  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  sincere  admirers  of  Henry  Clay.  " 

The  rate  at  which  this  country  is  going  to  ruin  is  now  pretty 
plainly  apparent  to  every  intelligent  man,  and  is  made  conspicuous 
by  our  annual  trade  returns.  It  seems  that  we  import  of  cotton  fabrics 
about  one  half  the  amount  we  manufacture.  We  have  about  $75,- 
000,000  invested  in  cotton  manufacture,  which  consume,  of  the  raw 
material,  upwards  of  650,000  bales  per  annum,  worth  upwards  of 
$30,000,000.  The  value  of  the  articles  wrought  from  that  raw  ma- 
terial is  nearly  $60,000,000;  of  which  some  6  or  8,000,000  — a 
coarser  fabric — is  exported.  A  country  like  this,  with  sole  com- 
mand of  raw  material,  with  abundance  of  manufacturing  skill  and 
enterprise,  and  with  every  necessary  facility  for  manufacturing,  im- 
port four  times  as  much  value  of  cotton  fabrics  as  it  exports  ! 

It  is  evident  enough  that  this  country  can  never  prosper  until  it 
establishes  a  correct  policy.  Political  parties  have  been  a  great  in- 
jury to  us,  and  that  injury,  unless  the  people  shall  profit  by  the 
lessons  of  the  past,  and  change  their  course  for  the  future,  will  con- 
tinue. We  must  cease  our  sectional  jealousies,  and  all  endeavor  to 
promote  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  The  Northern  man  must 
hot  think  it  his  mission  to  overturn,  by  civil  war  and  disunion,  what 
God  has  himself  established  ;  but  we  must  feel  grateful  to  the  enter- 
prising and  courageous  Saxon  who  will  brave  a  tropic  sun  to  supply 
us  with  the  material  which  in  a  short  time  may  make  New  England 
the  counting-room  of  the  trade  of  the  world.  And  the  Southern 
man  must  recollect  that  the  God  that  formed  this  country  for  a  great 
nation,  or  empire,  never  intended  that  any  one  part  of  it  should 


THE   WHIG   PARTY  243 

one.  To  realize  this  policy  is  the  aim  of  every  nation 
on  earth  saving  the  United  States.  There  is  not  a 
nation  in  Europe  that  does  not  struggle,  and  generally 
with  success,  to  keep  the  balance  of  trade  in  its  favor. 
Even  France,  since  the  accession  to  power  of  Louis 
Napoleon,  although  encountering  many  obstacles,  and 
forced  to  a  less  favorable  system  than  she  would  desire, 
has,  as  a  general  thing,  especially  during  peace,  exported 

enjoy  all  of  its  advantages.  Manufactures  must  have  their  place, 
commerce  its  centre,  and  agriculture  its  field.  The  Southerner  must 
recollect  that  his  is  an  agricultural  section,  and  that  his  true  policy 
consists  in  securing  a  good,  safe  and  permanent  market  for  his  pro- 
duce. To  endeavor  to  seek  that  out  of  the  sphere,  and  at  the  expense, 
of  his  own  country,  cannot  be  safe.  He  must  learn  to  feel  grateful  in 
the  reflection  that  the  people  of  the  North,  acting  with  the  rest  of  the 
Union,  are  able  to  open  that  good  and  permanent  market  ;  and  he 
must  cease  to  be  annoyed  with  the  evidences  of  thrift  which  Northern 
industry  everywhere  evinces,  and  submit  to  the  conditions  on  which 
Providence  has  permitted  him  to  develop  the  wealth  of  the  South. 
How  admirably,  how  cunningly  this  Union  is  formed  !  Pennsylvania, 
its  back-bone,  is  of  iron  ;  facing  the  East,  upon  her  right  hand,  the 
South  —  upon  the  left,  the  North.  The  grain-growing  regions  in  the 
far  West  so  situated  as  to  conveniently  supply  the  great  manufactur- 
ing cities  of  the  North,  the  iron  manufacturers  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  cotton  and  sugar  planters  of  the  South,  with  direct  communica- 
tion with  all  parts  of  the  world  at  every  point  of  the  compass.  That  is, 
saying  nothing  of  the  Hudson  and  the  prospects  of  a  ship  canal  to 
Lake  Erie,  there  is  the  great  channel  of  communication  by  the 
Lakes  and  St.  Lawrence,  by  the  Mississippi  river,  and  by  the  Columbia 
river,  which  will  shortly  be  connected  by  railroad  with  the  head-waters 
of  the  Mississippi.  By  a  glance  at  the  physical  constitution  of  this 
country,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  no  ambition  can  profit  it  that  is  not  an 
ambition  for  the  whole  country.  No  one  part  can  possibly  be  built 
up,  on  a  sound  and  enduring  basis,  without  building  up  the  whole  ; 
and  he  who  would,  by  his  policy,  retard  and  cripple  the  energies  of  a 
part,  aims  a  blow  at  the  whole. 


244  A   HISTORY   OF 

more  than  she  has  imported.     Her  balances  have  been 
comparatively  healthy. 

The  American  people  will  learn  before  long  that  the 
only  reliable  and  steady  market  for  breadstuff's  is  to  be 
found  at  home.  Occasional  wars  abroad,  or  a  famine, 
may  create  a  temporary  demand  for  grain ;  but  it  is  a 
wretched  nation  that  cannot,  as  a  general  thing,  fur- 
nish its  own  bread.  The  Yankee,  who  would  feed  an 
Englishman  with  his  bread,  will  be  obliged  to  butter  it 
well  with  duties.  A  little  reflection  will  satisfy  us  that 
we  must  look  for  a  sale  of  the  produce  of  our  farms  to 
our  domestic  markets.  It  is  the  calculation  of  every 
nation  to  be  independent  in  the  necessaries  of  life,  and 
to  secure  this  end  is  the  policy  of  every  nation  shaped. 
America  is  rich  beyond  measure  in  agricultural  resourc- 
es ;  but  their  development  and  the  realization  of  the 
wealth  they  may  afford,  will  be  at  a  period  far  remote, 
unless  other  interests  on  which  they  are  directly  depend- 
ent are  regarded.  Commerce,  as  one  thing,  is  neces- 
sary ;  but  how  can  commerce  be  sustained  without  a 
healthy  foreign  trade  ?  A  trade  that  impoverishes  the 
country  must  soon  consume  the  life-springs  of  com- 
merce, and  all  industry  will  be  paralyzed.  Then  what 
shall,  or  should,  our  merchant  vessels  be  carrying  over 
the  oceans  of  the  earth  ?  There  is  but  one  reliable 
basis  for  such  a  commerce  as  will  enrich  the  country. 
On  this  is  placed  the  commerce  of  England,  who  is  be- 
coming the  richest  nation  in  the  world.  Her  wealth  is 
in  the  skill  and  energy  of  her  mechanics  and  manufac- 
turers, and  she  finds  the  producing  power  of  the  brain 
arid  muscle  of  her  industrious  citizens  a  mine  that  never 
fails  in  its  yield  of  gold.  And  unless  the  United  States 
shall  build  up  its  manufacturing  interests,  what  shall  we 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  245 

expect  ?  The  statesmen  of  the  South  have  for  years 
prided  themselves  on  possessing  the  principal  exports 
of  the  country.  The  production  of  immense  quantities 
of  cotton  is  certainly  creditable  to  our  Southern  neigh- 
bors ;  but  its  shipment  to  Europe  is  a  disgrace  and 
shame  to  America.  The  cotton  crop  of  this  country  is 
the  basis  of  British  power  and  prosperity,  and  has  been 
for  years.  In  encouraging  her  export  of  her  raw  ma- 
terial to  be  manufactured  by  a  foreign  nation,  the  South 
commits  an  act  of  folly  for  which  she  is  not  pardonable, 
and  will,  sooner  or  later,  reap  a  suitable  reward.  The 
exclusive  possession  of  that  raw  material  has  for  years 
rendered  England  her  jealous  and  deadly  enemy,  and 
every  moment  this  power  is  seeking  her  overthrow  and 
destruction.  The  ruin  of  the  domestic  institutions  of 
the  South  has  ever  been  considered  by  England  as  the 
sure  means  of  overcoming  Southern  competition  in  the 
production  of  cotton.  When  the  slaves  of  the  South 
are  freed,  England,  in  some  of  her  colonies,  may  raise 
cotton  as  cheap  as  she.  As  slavery  in  the  West  Indies 
ceases,  Britain  finds  the  production  of  sugar  in  her 
East  India  possessions  profitable.  She  cannot  compete 
with  slavery  ;  but  with  the  West  Indies  and  the  South- 
ern States  cultivated  by  free  blacks  she  can  to  profit 
produce  her  sugar  and  cotton  in  her  Eastern  posses- 
sions ;  and  to  bring  about  this  state  of  things  is  her 
constant  study  and  employment.  Should  she  fail  in  her 
schemes  against  Southern  slavery,  she  may  not  in  ob- 
taining the  command  of  the  raw  material  for  her  im- 
mense manufactures.  She  is  striving  for  this  constantly, 
and  already  produces  in  the  Indies  quite  a  respectable 
proportion  (about  a  fourth)  of  her  raw  cotton  imports. 
That  England  will  ever  remain  dependent  on  the  United 


246  A   HISTORY   OF 

States  for  a  raw  material  of  such  vast  importance,  no 
sane  man  should  expect.  The  produce  of  India  must 
already  sensibly  affect  the  Southern  crop ;  and  how  long 
will  it  be  before  it  shall  have  a  controlling  power  over  it? 
Will  it  be  five,  or  ten,  or  twenty  years  from  this  ?  How 
long  ago  was  it  that  the  cotton  crop  of  the  South  did 
not  exceed  the  present  Indian  crop  ?  And  when  the 
demand  for  American  cotton  is  so  much  decreased  as  to 
gradually  reduce  its  production,  how  is  the  South  to 
help  herself  ?  She  will  then  find  it  too  late  to  encourage 
a  home  market  by  having  her  raw  material  manufac- 
tured here,  and  putting  the  American  manufacture  in 
competition  with  the  English.  England  will,  by  that 
time,  not  only  have  the  manufacture,  and  the  trade  with 
the  whole  world,  but  she  will  likewise  have  the  supply  of 
the  raw  material  in  her  own  hands.  The  golden  oppor- 
tunity for  putting  the  cotton  interest  beyond  the  reach 
of  fortune  is  passing  by.  England  has  had  no  raw 
material  until  within  a  short  period.  Had  our  land 
been  supplied  with  manufacturing  establishments,  and 
the  raw  material  kept  at  home,  and  here  manufactured, 
the  supply  of  cottons  for  the  whole  world  would  have 
been  in  our  hands,  and  no  power  on  earth  could  take 
it  from  us.  Under  a  liberal  system,  ere  this  time  our 
manufactures  would  have  been  as  extensive  as  those  of 
England.  Neither  China,  the  Indies,  nor  any  nation 
or  people  on  the  globe,  would  prefer  to  be  supplied 
by  England  in  preference  to  America.  But  the  South 
set  out  in  1828  with  the  idea  that  England  was  the  only 
purchaser  for  the  bulk  of  her  crop  that  earth  would  ever 
produce,  and  thought  her  interest  consisted  in  securing 
a  constant  sale  of  her  cotton  in  that  market.  And  that 
stupid  idea  has  been  since  hugged  with  John-Bull-like 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  247 

pertinacity.  The  Southern  planters  have  made  a  gross 
mistake.  They  have  turned  with  utter  forgetfulness  and 
indifference  from  their  poverty-stricken,  painstaking, 
industrious  and  ingenious  brothers,  whom  a  hard  des- 
tiny has  cast  upon  the  sterile  rocks  of  New  England. 
Those  rich  and  lordly  planters  have  passed  us  by 
until  idleness  has  filled  our  heads  with  mischief  which 
wholesome  employment  would  have  averted.  Had  the 
cotton  crop  of  the  South  been  annually  worked  up  in 
Northern  mills,  the  sin  of  slavery  would  never  have  been 
dreamed  of,  and  the  Union  would  have  been  bound  in 
bonds  that  all  the  nations  of  earth  could  not  sunder. 
22 


248  A    HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

MISTAKEN  POLICY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  —  OUR  SUPERIOR  ADVANTAGES 
FOR  SUPPLYING  THE  TRADE  OF  THE  WORLD.  —  HAVING  THE  RAW 
MATERIAL,  WE  COULD  ABSOLUTELY  COMMAND  THAT  TRADE.  — EXPENSE 
OF  ENGLAND  FOR  COTTON.  —  THE  EMPLOYMENT  IT  GIVES  HER  PEOPLE. 
—  HOW  SHE  PAYS  US  FOR  IT.  —  TO  WHAT  SHE  IS  INDEBTED  FOR  HER 

COMMERCIAL    SUPERIORITY. — THE    FOLLY     OF     AMERICA. BRITISH 

PROFITS  ON  OUR  RAW  COTTON.  —  HER  EXPORTS.  —  HER  PREACHING 
AND  PRACTICE  IN  REGARD  TO  FREE  TRADE.  —  OUR  SECTIONAL  QUARRELS 

RUINOUS. INTEREST  OF  ALL  SECTIONS  THE  SAME. UNLESS  THE  SOUTH 

SOON  SECURE  A  MARKET  FOR  HER  COTTON  IN  THE  NORTH,  BY  HELPING 
TO  BUILD  UP  MANUFACTORIES  THAT  MAY  CONSUME  HER  CROPS,  SHE 

MAY  FIND  IT  TOO  LATE. ENGLAND  AN  ENEMY  OF   THE    SOUTH. SHE 

ENCOURAGES  SECESSION  OR  DISUNION,  THAT  WOULD  EITHER  RENDER 
THAT  SECTION  A  COLONY  OF  ENGLAND,  OR  OVERTHROW  SLAVE-LABOR. 
PROBABLE  EFFECT  OF  A  DISMEMBERMENT,  ETC. 

THERE  have  been  marvellous  ideas  of  progress  in  this 
country ;  but  the  progress  has  been  in  the  acquisition 
of  territory,  instead  of  the  achievements  of  mechanical 
industry.  Were  we  to  use  our  territory  as  well  as 
England  does  hers,  we  could  comfortably  dispense  with 
two-thirds  of  what  we  now  have,  and  relinquish  our 
insane  longings  for  more.  Our  population  is  as  great 
as  that  of  the  British  Isles  ;  but  Great  Britain  is  but  a 
trifle  larger  in  extent  than  New  England.  „  The  basis  of 
her  prosperity  is  her  manufacturing  industry.  Without 
the  constant  results  of  her  manufacturing  energies,  all 
vitality  would  depart  from  her  commerce,  and  her  beau- 
tiful merchant  ships  would  decay  in  her  harbors.  What- 
ever her  industry  can  produce  is  protected  by  formidable 


THE   WHIG  PARTY.  249 

duties  ;  but  the  raw  material  necessary  to  keep  her 
machines  in  motion  is  admitted  to  her  ports  substan- 
tially free.  Her  own  people  are  relied  upon  for  the 
production  of  every  species  of  the  raw  material  that  it 
is  in  their  power  to  raise.  Her  policy  does  not  benefit 
the  manufacturer  alone,  but  gives  also  to  the  farmer  a 
profit  in  every  article  manufactured.  The  millions  of 
people  engaged  in  her  work-shops,  stores,  warehouses 
and  merchant  service,  are  fed  by  the  farmer,  who  finds 
a  ready  and  sure  market  for  his  breads,  and  all  the  raw 
material  he  is  able  to  produce.  The  raw  material  for 
her  cotton  fabrics  is  a  sore  charge  upon  her.  She  is 
obliged  to  pay  the  United  States  about  $100,000,000 
per  annum  for  this  article,  which  is  the  imperial  lord  of 
the  commerce  of  the  age.  Nature  has  placed  the 
elements  of  national  superiority  and  power  in  our 
hands,  and,  Esau-like,  we  truck  them  off  to  England 
for  messes  of  pottage.  To  pay  us  for  this  staple,  she 
sends  us  back,  in  cottons  from  her  mills,  about  $30,000,- 
000  ;  in  woollens  about  the  same  amount ;  and  about 
the  like  amount  in  iron  and  iron  manufactures.  These 
three  articles,  all  of  which  should  be  produced  and 
manufactured  in  our  own  country,  nearly  pay  us  for  our 
cotton  exports  ;  and,  for  the  privilege  of  selling  to  Britain 
our  peculiar  advantages  and  resources,  which,  if  judi- 
ciously used,  would  make  us  at  once  the  greatest  power 
on  earth,  we  consent  to  sacrifice  our  iron  mines  and 
forges,  our  wool-growing  and  manufacturing  interests, 
and  to  take  from  England  nearly  a  third  in  value  of 
our  cotton  crops  in  cotton  manufactures  ! 

But  England,  according  to  the  theory  of  our  free- 
trade  statesmen.,  must  drive  an  unprofitable  trade  with 
all  the  world.  She  exports  more  by  millions  than  she 


250  A   HISTORY   OF 

imports ;  she  has  not  that  excess  of  imports  which  is 
charged  to  the  account  of  profits  !  And  this  must  seem 
strange  ;  for  her  exports  are  of  articles  she  ought  to  have 
a  profit  on.  Her  exports  of  cotton  —  that  is,  the  various 
kinds  of  fabrics  made  from  the  raw  material  purchased  of 
this  country  —  must,  even  after  supplying  the  demands 
of  the  British  Isles,  amount  to  between  150  and  200  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  The  value  of  all  her  manufactured  goods, 
annually  exported,  of  every  kind,  cannot  be  of  less  value 
than  400,000,000  dollars.  Of  these  goods,  her  vast  pos- 
sessions, say  the  Cape,  the  Mauritius,  St.  Helena,  and 
the  Ascension  Isles,  Australia,  British  North  America, 
West  Indies,  Ceylon,  and  the  East  Indies,  must  take 
over  one-third,  and  the  United  States  nearly  one-quarter. 
Our  country  is,  as  a  consumer  of  British  fabrics,  about 
equal  to  all  her  colonies,  and  more  profitable  to  her,  a 
thousand  times  over,  as  her  outlay  for  influencing  our 
elections,  and  instructing  our  people  in  the  sciences  of 
free-trade  and  free-labor,  is  but  a  trifle  compared  with 
her  expense  of  governing  and  keeping  in  subjection  her 
distant  and  rebellious  possessions.  England  has  not 
yet  obtained  currency  for  her  free-trade  preachings  on 
the  continent,  and  but  a  trifle  more  of  her  manufactures 
are  purchased  by  the  whole  of  Europe  than  by  the 
United  States.  This  country  is  the  only  one  in  the 
world  that  disregards  all  the  laws  of  trade,  and  acts 
without  any  policy.  It  has  no  future  destiny  in  view, 
and  is  as  destitute  of  prudential  considerations  as  the 
prodigal  who  wasted  his  substance  in  riotous  living. 
The  shrewd  politicians  of  America  see  many  objections 
to  the  doctrine  of  protection.  It  is  thought  to  enhance 
the  price  of  goods,  and  benefit  manufacturers  at  the 
expense  of  consumers  !  The  United  States  is  content 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  251 

that  trade  shall  regulate  itself,  and  considers  it  folly  for 
the  country,  as  such,  to  attempt  to  exercise  any  control 
over  our  material  interests.  The  result  is  that  we 
are  more  useful  to  England,  under  the  system  of 
policy  that  she  adopts  and  rigidly  enforces,  than  all  of 
her  colonies  put  together.* 

*  To  show  not  only  the  tendency,  but  also  the  practical  working, 
of  Southern  policy,  in  regard  to  free-trade,  and  opposition  to  domestic 
manufactures,  let  us  state  a  few  more  facts  in  regard  to  the  cotton 
trade.  The  United  States  export  upwards  of  1,000,000,000  pounds 
of  cotton  annually.  From  1851  to  1855  the  average  annual  export 
was  1,025,654,156  pounds  ;  but  England  took  about  two-thirds  of 
these  exports.  Other  countries  in  Europe  for  some  years  past  have 
been  fostering  cotton  manufactures  with  great  success.  But  both 
England  and  the  continental  nations  receive  quite  a  proportion  of 
their  raw  material  from  other  sources  than  the  United  States.  They 
are  dependent  on  us  for  about  three-fourths  of  their  cotton  ;  full  one- 
fourth  of  all  the  cotton  consumed  in  the  manufactories  of  England  and 
the  continent  is  obtained  from  other  parts  of  the  world.  The  British 
East  India  Company  commenced  their  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  the 
growth  of  cotton  in  India,  in  1788.  The  increase  of  the  crop  has  been 
steady.  In  1814  the  exportation  was  upwards  of  4,000,000  pounds, 
and  it  now  averages  some  165,000,000  pounds  per  annum.  England 
herself,  in  her  importations  of  cotton  from  the  East  Indies,  from  1851 
to  1855,  averaged  upwards  of  122,000,000  pounds  annually.  During 
the  same  period  she  averaged  in  her  importations  from  Brazil  upwards 
of  22,000,000  pounds,  and  Yrom  Egypt  upwards  of  28,000,000  pounds. 
The  average  importations  of  cotton  by  England  during  those  five 
years  was  888,385,984  pounds  per  annum  ;  of  which  the  average 
annual  amount  received  from  the  United  States  was  661,529,220 
pounds.  France,  now  quite  a  consumer  of  cotton,  as  well  as  England, 
is  looking  for  independence  of  the  United  States  in  its  production. 
Slavery  is  unanimously  reprobated  by  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  ; 
but  philanthropy  warrants  the  practice  of  what  is  called  the  appren- 
tice system  !  The  trader's  vessel  appears  off  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  reigning  negro  kings  supply  traders  with  slaves  ;  but,  instead 
of  buying  the  bodies  and  souls,  as  the  abolitionists  would  say,  they 
only  L\iy  the  use  of  the  servants  for  a  certain  number  of  years.  The 
22* 


252  A    HISTORY    OF 

Providence  has  never  made  a  country  better  adapted 
to  the  manufacturing  interest  than  the  United  States,  and 

contract  is  made,  and  the  negro  goes  to  his  steady  home  for  the  term. 
When  taken  he  is  a  barbarian,  and  when  his  term  expires  he  will 
be  not  much  less  so  ;  and,  as  a  compensation  for  not  being  an  out- 
right chattel  slave,  he  has  two  signal  privileges  :  one,  a  tolerable 
passage -across  the  Atlantic,  free  from  the  asperities  of  the  slave-pas- 
sage, and  the  other,  an  entire  freedom  in  old  age,  when  unable  longer 
to  toil,  to  go  where  he  pleases.  Further,  as  this  system  seeks  nothing 
but  labor  for  a  limited  period,  without  property  in  the  servant's 
issue,  none  but  males  are  transported,  so  that  the  harrowing  scenes 
of  family  separations  can  never  occur.  England  and  France  have 
but  one  intent  in  the  movement.  It  is  their  determination  to  render 
themselves  independent  of  us  ;  and  there  is  no  problem  that  so  thor- 
oughly puzzles  the  minds  of  the  British  and  French  statesmen  as  the 
question  of  European  interference  in  matters  pertaining  to  this  con- 
tinent. But  should  Europe  eventually  obtain  its  supply  of  cotton 
independently,  or  comparatively  so,  of  the  United  States,  it  will  have 
occasion  for  congratulating  itself  on  having  made  a  very  narrow 
escape.  This  especially  will  be  the  case  with  England.  Her  foreign 
wars,  and  vast  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests,  have  been 
for  years  supported  by  and  entirely  dependent  on  us.  Had  our 
country  continued  under  the  wise  system  instituted  by  such  statesmen 
as  CaKioun,  Crawford,  Lowndes  and  Clay,  and  which  was  pursued 
from  1816  to  1828,  by  this  time  we  should  have  monopolized  the 
principal  manufacturing  business  of  the  world.  Having  the  raw 
material,  which  others  could  not  get,  how  could  the  world  avoid  being 
dependent  on  us?  And  the  spindles  and  forges  are  the  sinews  of 
commerce.  The  policy  then  instituted  would  soon  have  reduced  the 
British  Isles  to  their  natural  importance,  and  have  exalted  this 
country  to  unparalleled  Avealth  and  power.  With  a  monopoly  of  the 
raw  material,  and  the  manufactures  also,  no  power  could  ever  have 
competed  with  us,  and  our  ascendency  would  have  been  permanent ; 
but,  neglecting  manufactures,  and  rendering  ourselves  dependent  on 
England,  instead  of  making  her  feel  her  dependence  on  us,  our 
enemies,  in  spite  of  us,  are  daily  building  up,  under  our  eyes,  quite 
reliable  resources  for  cotton,  and  will,  sooner  or  later,  be  in  a  great 
measure  independent  of  us. 


THE  WHIG    PARTY.  253 

they  are  equally  well  adapted  to  the  agricultural  and 
commercial  interests.  This  country  is  located,  con- 
structed, and  every  way  planned,  for  the  seat  of  a  great 
empire  ;  and  it  seems  a  pity  that  its  high  promise  may 
not  be  realized  while  in  its  republican  state.  But  to 
see  it  throwing  away  the  advantages  nature  has  given 
it,  and  shaping  its  national  policy  on  ideas  of  local 
interest,  is  prophetic  of  the  result  of  the  present  form 
of  government.  What  revolutions,  convulsions,  and 
scenes  of  anarchy  and  blood,  America  is  to  pass  through 
before  she  becomes  what  she  seems  evidently  designed 
for,  —  a  great,  wealthy  and  commanding  nation,  —  is 
only  known  to  higher  intelligences.  We  are  loth  to 
believe  that  it  is  fated  that  her  glorious  mission  is  not 
to  be  achieved  under  republican  institutions.  Although 
of  nations,  as  of  individuals,  it  may  be  truly  said, 
"  There  is  a  destiny  that  shapes  their  ends  ;  "  still  that 
destiny,  we  are  anxious  to  believe,  is  more  or  less  sub- 
ject to  the  purposes  of  human  wisdom.  It  sometimes 
seems,  it  is  true,  as  though  it  was  never  the  intention 
of  Providence  that  the  fate  of  nations  should  be  under 
the  control  of  popular  wisdom.  The  career  of  a  nation 
appears  as  much  the  subject  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
as  much  influenced  and  affected  by  circumstances,  as  the 
stream  that  flows  from  our  hill-sides,  and  empties  into 
the  ocean.  Whether  governed  by  the  voice  of  one,  or 
of  all  its  people,  is  the  same.  The  subjects  of  perma- 
nent despotisms  are  such  by  the  operation  of  natural 
laws,  over  which  they  have  no  control.  It  is  not 
denied  that  physical  force  sometimes  temporarily  rules 
a  people ;  but  generally  the  government  of  the  world 
is  by  ideas.  Ideas  are  as  various  as  the  localities  of  the 
earth,  and  as  the  organizations  of  men.  Reason  is  the 


254  A   HISTORY   OF 

boasted  prerogative  of  man  ;  but,  unfortunately,  reason 
appears  to  have  a  higher  duty  than  the  government  of 
men  ;  this  duty  is  assigned  to  the  baser  and  grosser 
passions.  Reason  is  useful  for  purposes  of  philosophy, 
and  speculation  into  the  nature  of  things,  but  not  much 
used  in  the  conduct  of  human  affairs. 

It  does  not  need  great  wisdom  to  see  that  no  nation 
can  flourish  by  favoring  the  exportation  of  the  raw  ma- 
terial for  manufactures,  instead  of  encouraging  its  use  at 
home.  And  for  a  country  like  this  —  that  is  capable  of 
commanding  the  trade  of  the  world,  and,  by  the  encour- 
agement of  manufactures,  of  blending  together  the  inter- 
ests of  all  sections,  thus  laying  the  foundations  for  last- 
ing prosperity  —  to  pay  no  attention  to  its  situation 
and  advantages,  and  to  adopt  a  course  that  creates  no 
bond  of  union  between  its  different  parts,  but  leaves 
them  estranged  and  jealous  of  each  other,  is  evidence 
that  we  are  devoid  of  a  national  character,  a  national 
policy,  and  a  national  spirit. 

Under  the  sectional  rule  of  local  interests  the  har- 
mony of  our  Union  has  long  been  disturbed.  The  alien- 
ation produced  by  supposed  conflicting  interests  is  still 
onward,  and  is  ministered  to  constantly  by  all  the  ene- 
mies of  our  country,  domestic  and  foreign.  The  South 
have  seen  fit  to  treat  her  interests  as  incompatible  with 
those  of  the  North  and  West,  and  has  been  firmly  com- 
mitted to  the  doctrine  that  manufacturing,  without  which 
agriculture  cannot  flourish,  can  only  be  favored  by  gov- 
ernment at  her  expense.  In  this  foolish  and  ruinous 
idea  the  South,  we  are  happy  to  witness,  has  not  been 
a  unit.  Such  states  as  Kentucky,  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee  and  Louisiana,  have  been  governed  by  more 
liberal  views,  and  handsome  minorities  in  the  other 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  255 

Southern  States  have  recognized  sounder  principles. 
But  the  mass  of  the  South  have  seen  proper  to  repudiate 
and  make  war  upon  the  only  policy  under  which  the 
rest  of  the  country  can  prosper,  and  without  which,  it 
is  humbly  submitted,  the  South  herself  will  sooner  or 
later  perish.  Let  us  see. 

The  views  and  feelings  of  the  ultra  leaders  in  the 
Southern  Rights  party  are  often  announced.  We  have 
heard  of  them  in  Congress,  in  Southern  conventions, 
and  read  them  in  Southern  papers.  The  leaders  look 
upon  the  North  as  their  enemy,  and  expect  the  day 
when  an  attack  upon  their  rights  shall  drive  them  from 
the  Union.  They  say  that  the  North  is  certain,  at  no 
far  distant  day,  to  invade  their  constitutional  rights, 
and  that  already  they  have  refused  to  carry  out,  in  good 
faith,  the  constitutional  compromises.  The  North,  they 
say,  are  making  war  upon  them  in  every  conceivable 
manner,  misrepresenting  their  institutions,  and  abusing 
them  personally.  This,  it  is  true,  is  the  feeling  of  large 
masses  of  Southern  people  ;  and,  actuated  by  this  feel- 
ing, and  not  being  indifferent  to  their  fate,  they  are 
naturally  led  to  form  plans  for  future  emergencies.  But 
how  vain  and  dangerous  are  all  their  speculations  of 
which  we  have  as  yet  had  any  indications  !  England  ! 
England !  In  all  their  visions  this  royal  mistress  of  the 
ocean  is  their  first  and  last  hope.  Should  Cuba  and 
Mexico  be  acquired,  and,  together  with  the  Southern 
States,  forced  to  the  step  by  the  intolerance  of  Northern 
fanaticism,  formed  into  a  powerful  republic  or  empire, — 
England,  it  is  thought,  will  be  the  only  country  from 
which  floods  of  wealth  are  to  flow  into  her  lap.  That 
England  would  favor  such  an  empire,  and  be  its  natural 
ally,  no  one  doubts.  The  London  Times  —  the  British 


256  A   HISTORY   OF 

government  organ  —  predicts  the  immediate  absorption, 
by  the  United  States,  of  Mexico,  and  favors  the  idea, 
saying,  that  no  opposition  would  be  made  by  foreign 
nations.  But  there  are  objections  to  this  scheme  which 
should  condemn  it  at  once.  The  rupture  of  the  Union 
for  the  formation  of  a  new  empire  could  not  take  place 
without  violence.  The  new  empire  or  republic  would 
be  born  amidst  the  blaze  of  war ;  and  at  its  birth  would 
be  without  armies,  munitions  of  war,  or  a  navy.  In 
such  a  movement  the  South  of  course  sees  no  possible 
chance  of  success,  saving  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance. This  dreadful  alternative  will  ever  be  sufficient 
to  stay  every  step  in  the  direction  of  secession.  Men 
of  sound  judgment  will  never  be  likely  to  embark  in 
such  an  undertaking  without  a  proper  consideration  of 
all  the  probable  consequences.  And  it  can  escape  the 
discernment  of  no  one  that  the  birth  and  independence 
of  such  a  Southern  confederacy  or  government,  under 
the  auspices  of  European  monarchs,  must  end  in  ren- 
dering the  Southern  people  the  vassals  and  serfs  of  Eu- 
ropean lords.  It  is  conceded  that,  in  a  struggle  be- 
tween the  relics  of  our  republic  in  the  North  and  the 
new  confederacy  in  the  South,  European  powers  would 
see  that  they  would  be  interested  in  preventing  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  latter  by  the  former.  The  same  policy 
that  impelled  France  and  England  to  resist  the  encroach- 
ments of  Russia  upon  Turkey  would  cause  the  same 
powers  to  maintain  the  new  government  that  should 
spring  up  in  the  South.  But  how  would  such  a  conflict 
end  ?  If,  by  pouring  into  the  South  her  immense  armies, 
Europe,  after  a  struggle  of  years,  should  be  successful 
in  overthrowing  freedom  in  the  North,  would  the  South 
emerge  from  the  storm  in  any  but  a  ruined  condition  ? 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  257 

And  if  the  North  should  preserve  their  institutions,  and, 
after  a  bloody  and  protracted  contest,  treat  with  all  the 
combined  powers  for  the  independence  of  the  new  em- 
pire, in  what  condition  would  the  Holy  Alliance  be 
likely  to  leave  our  Southern  friends  ?  Do  the  ultra  South- 
ern nullifiers  and  disunionists  who  can  only  base  their 
hopes  on  such  foreign  alliances,  ever  look  to  the  conse- 
quences of  their  mad  projects  ;  or  are  they  moved 
solely  by  a  blind,  impetuous  fanaticism  ?  It  is  hoped 
that  the  views  of  this  part  of  the  Southern  people  do 
not  spread,  as  the  only  hope  for  freedom,  prosperity 
and  happiness,  both  of  the  people  of  the  South  and 
North,  is  in  union.  He  who  looks  beyond  the  Union 
for  redress  of  grievances  stares  *  destruction  in  the 
face. 


258  A   HISTORY   OP 


CHAPTEE  XXIY. 

POWER  OF  IDEAS.  —  COMMERCIAL  SUPERIORITY  OP  ENGLAND,  HOW  AT- 
TAINED AND  PRESERVED.  —  ADVANTAGES  OF  AMERICA  SEEN  BY  ENG- 
LAND. —  HER  POLICY  IN  REGARD  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES.  —  DISUNION 
THE  ONLY  POSSIBLE  MEANS  OF  PREVENTING  THIS  COUNTRY  FROM 
EVENTUALLY  ENJOYING  THE  TRADE  NOW  ENJOYED  BY  ENGLAND. — 

HER  SCHEMES.  —  HER  SLAVERY   QUESTION. HER  SACRIFICES   IN   THE 

WEST  INDIES.  —  HER  LABORS  INJURIOUS  TO  THE  NEGRO.  —  ALISON  ON 
EMANCIPATION  IN  THE  WEST  INDIES.  —  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT  IN  THE 
WEST  INDIES.  —  CIVILIZATION  OF  NEGROES  ARRESTED  BY  EMANCIPA- 
TION. —  EFFECT  OF  WEST  INDIAN  EMANCIPATION  ON  THE  UNITED 
STATES.  — SIMULTANEOUS  EFFORTS  OF  BRITISH  ABOLITIONISTS  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES.  —  RESULT  NOT  THE  SAME  AS  IN  THE  WEST  INDIES,  AND 

THE    REASONS. INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS   AND   PETITIONS   IN   1835 

AND  1836. — ANTI-SLAVERY  OPERATIONS  OF  THOSE  DAYS  INSTIGATED 
ABROAD.  —  COURSE  OF  SOUTHERN  MEN  IN  THOSE  DAYS.  —  REMARKS  OF 
MR.  CLAY  ON  THE  OBJECTS  OF  THE  ABOLITIONISTS. — NEW  ENGLAND 
DUPED  BY  OLD  ENGLAND. 

IN  recent  ages,  in  particular,  great  political  changes 
have  been  effected,  less  by  the  sword,  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  plunder,  than  by  the  power  of  ideas.  Polit- 
ical ideas  have  frequently  wrought  revolutions  ;  but  reli- 
gious ones  have  borne  the  greatest  sway.  The  spread 
of  Mahometanism  shows  what  a  motive  power  in  the 
human  breast  are  religious  ideas.  The  enthusiasm  and 
desperate  courage  of  the  Mahometan,  however,  is  not 
perhaps  peculiar.  The  crusader,  under  another  creed, 
was  not  less  fierce  and  enthusiastic  than  his  Saracen 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  259 

antagonist.  The  crusades  were  great  movements,  caused 
by  the  steam-like  power  of  religious  ideas.  The  em- 
pire of  Charlemagne,  as  well  as  that  of  Constantino, 
was  won  by  a  war  inspired  and  sustained  by  them ; 
and,  in  fact,  the  principal  revolutions  and  popular  com- 
motions of  modern  times  have  been  occasioned  by  reli- 
gious fanaticism.  The  recent  war  between  Kussia  and 
Turkey,  as  between  these  powers,  was  a  religious  one. 
The  education  of  the  serf's  mind  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Czar,  and  the  serf  is  by  that  hand  rendered  as  obedient 
as  the  engine  to  the  hand  of  the  engineer.  But  few 
monarchs,  in  modern  days,  attempt  to  hold  a  people  by 
the  power  of  the  sword  alone.  A  conquest  may  open 
the  windows  of  a  nation  for  the  light  of  the  conqueror's 
religion ;  but  the  conquest  is  not  regarded  safe  until 
this  enters.  But  conquests  now-a-days  rather  succeed 
than  precede  the  missionary.  That  is,  the  ambitious 
monarch  prefers,  by  propagating  revolutionary  ideas,  to 
first  excite  a  division  among  his  enemies,  as  his  yoke  is 
thus  more  easily  forced  upon  them.  An  idea  is  a  far 
more  effective  weapon  with  which  to  overthrow  an  enemy 
than  a  bullet.  Let  the  idea  once  be  fairly  lodged  in  that 
enemy's  mind,  —  let  the  honest  countryman  once  re- 
ceive into  his  mental  organization  the  peculiar  religious 
bias,  —  and  through  it  his  adversary  will  control  him 
with  more  effect  and  certainty  than  he  could  by  the 
appliance  of  any  physical  force  ever  invented.  Con- 
siderations of  patriotism  are  at  once  lost  sight  of  in  the 
presence  of*  the  peculiar  religious  ism,  for  which  every- 
thing will  be  freely  sacrificed.  Dynasties  are  built  on 
creeds,  and  the  regulation  of  the  balances  of  power,  so 
much  talked  about  in  modern  times,  is  but,  in  fact,  the 
23 


260  A    HISTORY   OF 

proper  adjustment  by  alliances  of  the  powers  of  the 
earth  with  regard  to  conflicting  religions. 

The  governments  of  Europe  wield  their  respective 
people  entirely  through  their  mental  organizations,  and, 
having  the  schools,  pulpits  and  presses,  in  their  own 
hands,  no  horseman  with  a  rein  directs  his  steed  with 
more  ease  and  certainty  than  the  monarch  controls  his 
subject.  Ideas  are  not  dug  from  the  earth,  do  not  grow 
upon  trees,  nor  are  they  rained  down  from  heaven. 
They  are  a  communicated  power,  usually  received  from 
without,  and  rarely  from  within.  The  mind,  like  the 
soil,  cherishes  whatever  is  committed  to  it,  and  is  as 
generous  and  lavish  of  its  riches  upon  an  evil  as  upon 
a  good  plant. 

In  the  earlier  ages,  when  a  people  became  too  numer- 
ous in  a  particular  nomadic  family,  portions,  from  time 
to  time,  would  separate  themselves  from  the  parent 
stock,  going  forth,  under  new  leaders,  to  conquer  new 
homes,  and  repeat  the  process  of  multiplying  tribes. 
Europe  was  in  this  manner  settled  from  Asia;  but 
America  was  not  in  this  way  settled  from  Europe. 
Before  the  discovery  of  America,  nomadic  life  had 
become  pretty  much  obliterated  from  Europe,  its 
numerous  tribes  having  become  blended  into  nations. 
These  nations  owed  their  birth  and  consolidation  to  the 
power  of  religious  ideas  ;  and  to  the  same  power  was 
America  indebted  for  her  settlement.  Emigration  took 
a  new  form.  About  the  time  of  the  discovery  of 
America,  ideas  began  to  burst  forth  from  the  tombs 
in  which  they  had  been  buried  for  centuries.  The 
treasures  of  ancient  thought  were  dug  up  from  manu- 
scripts saved  from  the  wrecks  of  antiquity,  to  be  buried 
again  under  a  rigorous  censorship  more  stifling  than 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  261 

mediaeval  darkness.  As  ideas  in  conflict  with  the 
divine  right  of  the  ruling  monarch  rendered  the  sub- 
ject an  enemy  of  the  state,  and  guilty  of  treason,  gov- 
ernments were  cautious  to  suppress  their  introduction 
and  circulation.  Despite  the  vigilance  of  kings  and 
emperors,  thoughts  subversive  of  the  ruling  dynasties 
gradually  crept  in  amongst  the  people  ;  and  hence  the 
emigrations  to  the  wilds  of  America. 

It  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  centuries  ago  that,  "  as  a 
man  thinketh,  so  is  he."  The  idea  is  the  sovereign  lord 
and  master  of  the  man,  and  to  this  each  looks  as  his 
higher  and  supreme  law.  Life  itself  is  less  cherished 
than  a  creed.  The  martyr  burning  at  the  stake  expires 
in  a  paroxysm  of  joy  at  the  thought  that  his  faith  is 
triumphant  over  the  power  of  man.  In  the  ardor  of  the 
affection  with  which  a  faith  is  cherished,  there  is  no  dif- 
ference between  those  who  follow  the  true,  and  those  who 
follow  the  false  god.  There  is  certainly  no  less  enthu- 
siasm in  the  Mahometan  than  in  the  Christian  ;  and  the 
atheist  is  as  religiously  devoted  to  his  idea  as  either  of 
them.  As  man's  ideas  are,  is  his  allegiance  determined. 
The  words  of  the  serpent  transformed  Eve  from  a  ser- 
vant of  God  to  a  servant  of  Satan.  Dynasties  and 
thrones,  as  well  as  republics,  are  only  sustained  by 
ideas.  If  republics  are  less  stable  than  monarchies,  it 
is  because  the  perpetuation  of  conservative  opinions  is 
not  so  likely  to  occur  in  the  hands  of  a  mob  as  in  those 
of  a  despot.  The  British  crown  has  frequently  been  the 
foot-ball  of  shifting  religious  ideas.  Religionists  will 
sacrifice  liberty  in  preference  to  making  a  surrender  of 
their  peculiar  notions  ;  and  hence  the  great  check  to  the 
establishment  of  free  institutions  in  England,  and  Europe 
generally.  Neither  Scotland  nor  Ireland  would  have 


262  A    HISTORY   OF 

been  subjected  so  long  to  ilie  British  crown,  but  for  the 
conflict  of  religious  notions  among  the  people  of  those 
isles  ;  nor,  without  such  conflict  of  ideas  among  their 
people,  would  the  Canadas  till  this  day  have  remained 
subject  to  British  rule. 

It  is  the  object  of  England,  as  it  was  with  ancient 
Athens,  to  maintain  her  naval  supremacy  over  the  whole 
world.  But  as  England,  for  this,  has  not  within  her 
bosom  the  natural  resources  for  such  ascendency,  she  is 
forced  to  maintain  it,  if  at  all,  by  policy.  In  this,  also, 
she  resembles  her  Grecian  model.  The  ancient  mistress 
of  the  seas  was  vigilant,  shrewd  and  daring.  No 
power  of  old  was  more  artful  and  prompt  to  ferment 
troubles  amongst  its  neighbors,  and  take  advantage  of 
them,  than  the  subtle  Athenians.  It  is  plain  enough 
that  if  England  is  to  remain  the  commercial  centre  of 
the  world,  and  continue  to  maintain  that  balance  of 
power  which  a  naval  superiority  commands,  she  must 
accomplish  it  by  far-seeing  counsels,  and  by  a  bold, 
firm  and  daring  course.  The  extension  of  those  powers 
possessing  superior  resources  must  be  firmly  and  deci- 
sively checked  and  restrained  ;  and,  for  this  purpose, 
all  those  who  may  share  her  jealousies  should  be  allied 
to  her  policy.  France,  ruled  by  the  great  Napoleon, 
would  have  been. a  powerful  competitor  for  the  palm, 
and,  by  the  triumph  of  peaceful  arts  alone,  might  have 
shorn  England  of  much  of  her  power  and  glory.  The 
effort  of  England  to  put  down  that  great  man  was  a 
struggle,  not  only  for  ascendency,  but  for  self-preserva- 
tion. But  the  policy  of  England  demanded  Napoleon's^ 
overthrow.  To  stop  short  of  this  would  have  been  a 
surrender  of  the  vast  power  and  consequence  which  the 
artificial  system  of  that  little  isle  has  acquired  in  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  263 

world.  The  greatness  and  power  of  Britain  are  extorted 
from  other  nations  by  a  deep-laid  policy,  backed  by  a 
strong  arm,  and  are  not  the  results  of  vast  national 
dominions,  people  and  resources.  Her  colonial  domin- 
ions are  large  ;  but  they  are  only  held  by  a  commercial 
tenure.  They  are  no  part  of  England  proper,  and  drop 
from  her  when  the  commerce  of  the  world  glides  from 
her  hands.  That  commerce  is  now  forced.  The  raw 
material  for  her  principal  fabrics  has  to  be  bought  at  an 
enormous  expense,  and  shipped  across  the  Atlantic, 
giving  to  each  article  of  British  cotton  manufacture 
consumed  in  America  a  journey,  in  the  raw  and  manu- 
factured state,  of  upwards  of  sis  thousand  miles.  The 
United  States,  in  the  nature  of  things,  must  be  a  com- 
petitor of  Britain  in  manufactures,  and  must  soon, 
unless  checked  in  their  career  of  greatness,  take  the  trade 
of  the  world  into  their  own  hands.  This  century  will 
give  us  a  hundred  millions  of  people.  The  increase  of 
population  will  materially  affect  the  policy  of  our 
statesmen.  All  classes  will  encourage  home  industry, 
and  the  South,  that  distrusted  the  home  market  for 
her  staple  when  we  numbered  only  ten  or  twelve  mil- 
lions of  people,  will  thwart  our  national  prosperity  no 
logger. 

England  studies  and  understands  the  tendency  of  our 
career  better  than  we  do  ourselves.  She  sees  that  we 
hold  in  our  hands  the  commerce  of  the  world.  She 
sees  the  approaching  absorption  of  Cuba,  Mexico  and 
Central  America,  giving  us  an  unlimited  and  perpetual 
jcontrol  of  the  cotton  staple  ;  and  then  her  vision  is 
greeted  by  manufactures  sufficient  to  supply  the  whole 
earth.  Her  vision  does  not  stop  here.  She  judges  the 
future  by  the  past,  and  sees  our  population  expanded 
23* 


264  A    HISTORY    OF 

to  hundreds  of  millions,  with  magnificent  railways 
stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  and, 
as  her  eyes  glance  at  the  harbors,  at  the  termini  of  these 
railways  on  the  Pacific  coast,  she  is  startled,  and,  for  a 
moment,  alarmed.  These  harbors  she  sees  filled  with 
the  fleets  of  the  world,  with  steamers  plying  between 
them  and  the  Indies,  pouring  the  commerce  of  the  East 
upon  these  Pacific  thoroughfares.  As  this  all  passes 
before  her  aching  eyes,  she  looks  again,  and  in  vain 
peers  about  the  world  for  her  own  magnificent  com- 
merce and  possessions.  She  discovers  that  the  island 
of  Great  Britain  has  ceased  to  be  the  centre  of  com- 
merce ;  that  Kussia  has  really  at  last  slipped  into  the 
seat  of  Constantino  ;  and  that  the  United  States  kave 
succeeded  her  Britannic  J^Iajesty  in  India  —  the  Indian 
possessions  being  peacefully  resigned  by  those  who  have 
no  further  use  for  them.  England  is  as  clear  as  day  in 
these  visions,  and  knows  them  to  be  real,  and  to  be 
realizable,  provided  the  Union  shall  last  half  a  century 
longer.  The  cry  which  Rome  uttered  in  regard  to 
Carthage,  she  uses  towards  the  United  States.  The 
only  thing  which  can  possibly  preserve  the  ascend- 
ency of  British  commerce  is  the  dissolution  of  the 
American  Union.  Her  arts  are  all  concentrated  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this.  Her  modus  operandi  has  been 
alluded  to.  Let  us  look  a  little  further  into  her  doleful 
wailings  for  the  wrongs  of  American  slaves. 

The  powerful  efforts  made  by  the  British  government 
early  in  the  present  century,  and,  in  fact,  continued  to 
the  present  day,  to  suppress  the  slave-trade,  have  been 
far  from  successful.  The  exportation  of  negroes  from 
Africa  has  not-been  discontinued  ;  but  the  sufferings  of 
the  middle-passage  have  been  increased  ten-fold  ;  show- 


THE    WHIG    PARTY.  265 

ing  that  an  attempt  to  thwart  by  legislation  the  decrees 
of  Providence  is  of  but  little  avail.  The  exportation 
of  slaves  to  America  is  comparatively  a  recent  matter, 
and  is  a  happy  vent  to  the  slave-traffic,  compared  with 
the  negro-trade  that  has  been  carried  on  for  thousands 
of  years  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  But  England  has 
not  endeavored  to  stop  the  sales  of  slaves  to  the  traders 
who  convey  them  over  the  Great  Desert,  nor  with  the 
drovers  who  move  them  down  the  Nile.  She  has  been 
more  in  dread  of  the  sufferings  which  Sambo  would  be 
likely  to  experience  in  the  hands  of  a  savage  Yankee, 
than  moved  by  fear  of  what  he  would  suffer  in  the  power 
of  the  Oriental  races.  A  Turk  or  an  Arab  is  regarded 
as  a  mild  and  Christian  master  compared  with  a  Jona- 
than ;  and  no  sigh  is  ever  heard  for  the  mutilated 
wretches  who  are  borne  from  Africa  into  the  East. 
There  are,  in  their  equatorial  hive  in  Africa,  some  fifty 
millions  of  negroes ;  and  there  their  tribes  have  been 
for  ages.  Enterprise  is  the  gift  of  mental  organization. 
The  negro  has  it  not.  He  has  the  physical  faculties  for 
labor,  but  not  the  intellect  that  will  excite  him  to  it. 
He  seems  designed  for  a  servile  and  subordinate  posi- 
tion, as  without  compulsion  he  cannot  be  induced  to 
labor.  The  motives  that  impel  the  people  of  other  races 
to  effort  have  no  effect  upon  the  negro.  Consequently, 
he  is  by  nature  a  barbarian.  Under  a  civilized  master 
he  becomes  civilized,  and  experience  teaches  that  his 
highest  status  is  brought  out  in  servitude. 

The  error  of  England  in  making  herself  so  officious  in 
endeavoring  to  put  a  stop  to  the  slave-trade  and  negro 
slavery  is,  as  a  humanitarian  movement,  now  clearly 
seen  by  everybody.  Her  policy,  so  far  as  her  material 
interests,  and  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  negro 


266  A   HISTORY    OF 

are  concerned,  has  been  a  mistaken  one.  This  is,  on 
the  whole  view  of  the  subject,  fully  and  frankly  asserted 
by  Mr.  Alison,  in  the  volume  of  his  History  of  Europe 
(Vol.  1)  just  published.  "  Like  all  other  great  move- 
ments of  the  human  race/'  says  Mr.  Alison,  speaking 
of  the  slave-trade,  "  brought  about  by  the  irresistible 
laws  of  nature  acting  by  physical  necessities  or  moral 
influence,  this  vast  transportation  of  mankind,  however 
violent  in  its  origin,  or  painful  in  its  completion,  was 
calculated  to  produce,  and  will  ultimately  confer,  great 
benefits  upon  the  species.  It  promised  to  effect  what 
all  the  changes  of  time,  and  all  the  efforts  of  philan- 
thropy, from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  had  failed  in 
accomplishing  —  the  ultimate  civilization  of  the  African 
race.'7  Then,  speaking  of  the  legislation  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  slave-trade,  Mr.  Alison  quotes  the  report 
of  Mr.  Bruxton,  an  advocate  of  emancipation,  which 
says,  "  Twenty  years  ago  the  African  institution  reported 
to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  that  the  number  of  slaves 
who  annually  crossed  the  Atlantic  was  10,000.  There 
is  evidence  before  the  parliamentary  committee  to  show 
that  about  one-third  was  for  the  British  Islands,  and  one- 
third  for  St.  Domingo  ;  so  that,  if  the  slave-trade  of  other 
countries  had  been  stationary,  they  ought  only  to  have 
imported  25,000  ;  whereas,  now  (1838)  the  number  landed 
in  Cuba  and  Brazil  alone  is  150,000  annually;  being  more 
than  double  the  whole  draft  of  Africa  when  the  slave- 
trade  controversy  began  I  Twice  as  many  human  beings 
are  now  its  victims  as  when  Wilberforce  and  Clarkson 
commenced  their  noble  career  ;  and  each  individual  of 
this  increased  number,  in  addition  to  the  horrors  which 
were  endured  in  former  times,  has  to  suffer  from  being 
cribbed  up  in  a  narrow  space,  and  on  board  of  a  vessel 


THE    WHIG    PARTY.  267 

where  accommodation  is  sacrificed  to  speed.  Painful 
as  this  is,  it  becomes  still  more  distressing  if  it  shall 
appear  that  our  present  system  has  not  failed  by  mis- 
chance, or  want  of  energy,  or  want  of  expenditure  ; 
but  that  the  system  itself  is  erroneous,  and  must  neces- 
sarily end  in  disappointment."  And,  adds  Mr.  Alison, 
"Thus  the  effect  of  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes  has 
been  to  ruin  our  own  planters,  stop  the  civilization  of 
our  own  negroes,  and  double  the  slave-trade  in  extent, 
and  quadruple  it  in  horror  throughout  the  globe. ;J  Mr. 
Alison's  chapter  on  slavery  ought  to  be  carefully  pe- 
rused by  that  portion  of  the  New  England  people  who 
have  formed  their  opinion  on  the  subject  without  exam- 
ination. As  a  historian,  Mr.  Alison,  although  a  British 
writer,  with  prejudices  in  favor  of  British  interests, 
could  not,  without  the  grossest  misrepresentation,  and 
the  most  glaring  falsehood,  have  drawn  any  different 
picture  from  that  presented  us. 

But  the  British  government  had  other  motives  than 
those  of  humanity.  The  monopoly  of  the  cotton  prod- 
uct by  the  United  States  can  never,  she  has  thought, 
be  overthrown,  save  by  striking  it  through  the  American 
system  of  negro  servitude.  The  sacrifices  of  England 
to  put  an  end  to  the  slave-trade  have  been  alluded  to. 
It  was  during  the  administration  of  President  Jackson 
that  England  (1834)  passed  her  first  act  for  emancipat- 
ing the  slaves  of  her  West  India  possessions.  The 
emancipation  of  her  slaves  was  not  contemplated  by 
England  when  she  commenced  her  warfare  on  the  slave- 
trade  ;  but  that  measure  was  hastened  on  by  the  agita- 
tions of  the  slavery  question  in  England,  and  by  the 
state  of  things  brought  about  in  her  slave  islands  by 
these  agitations.  After  a  deep  sympathy  had  been 


268  A   HISTORY    OF 

aroused  in  England  for  the  slaves,  ministers  and 
missionaries  commenced  their  labors  in  the  British 
West  Indies.  As  might  and  ought  to  have  been  ex- 
pected, those  missionary  labors  were  ruinous  to  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  the  slave,  and  soon  superin- 
duced a  state  of  things  that  demanded  legislative  aid, 
or  rendered  emancipation  absolutely  necessary.  Alison, 
speaking  of  the  effects  of  those  abolition  labors,  says : 
"Riots  of  a  very  alarming  character  took  place  in  several 
districts,  some  arising  from  the  indignation  of  the  planters 
at  the  missionaries,  others  from  the  highly  excited  feel- 
ings of  the  negroes  in  consequence  of  their  preachings. 
Shrewsbury,  a  missionary  in  Barbadoes,  was  a  victim 
to  violence  of  the  first  kind,  and  only  saved  his  life  by 
flying  from  the  colony ;  and  the  imprudent  zeal  of  an- 
other, named  Smith,  in  Demarara,  produced  an  insur- 
rection among  the  blacks  of  so  threatening  a  character 
that  martial  law  was  proclaimed  in  the  colony,  and  con- 
tinued in  force  for  five  months."  Of  the  insurrection 
in  Jamaica,  in  December,  1831,  the  historian  says  :  "  The 
blacks  proceeded  to  break  into  houses  and  take  arms,  or 
bring  out  weapons  of  their  own  which  they  had  secreted, 
and,  assembling  in  large  bodies,  marched  in  every  direc- 
tion over  the  island,  inciting  the  slaves  to  join  them, 
and  burning  and  destroying  every  plantation  or  build- 
ing which  came  within  their  reach.  The  houses  and 
settlements  of  the  free  people  of  color,  however  hum- 
ble, shared  in  the  devastation  equally  with  the  larger 
plantations  of  the  European.  The  unchained  African 
marked,  as  he  had  done  in  St.  Domingo  in  1789,  his  first 
step  towards  freedom  by  murder,  conflagration,  arid  every 
crime  at  which  humanity  recoils.  The  whole  island  was 
illuminated  at  night  by  the  light  of  burning  edifices ; 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  2G9 

the  sky  darkened  by  day  with  the  vast  clouds  of  smoke 
which  issued  from  the  conflagrations."  The  condition 
of  the  islands  had  become  such,  under  the  influence  of 
abolition  emissaries,  that  emancipation  was  at  last, 
although  the  planter  obtained  but  about  one-half  the 
real  value  of  his  slaves,  a  welcome  measure.  But  the 
effect  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  islands,  as  well  as  on 
the  condition  of  the  negro,  has  been  exceedingly  detri- 
mental. This  is  shown  by  Mr.  Alison's  account  of  West 
India  slavery,  and  that  author  is  forced  to  the  observa- 
tions :  "  Generally  speaking,  the  incipient  civilization 
of  the  negro  has  been  arrested  by  his  emancipation  ; 
with  the  cessation  of  forced  labor,  the  habits  and  tastes 
which  spring  from  and  compensate  it,  have  disappeared, 
and  savage  habits  and  pleasures  have  assumed  their 
ascendency  over  the  sable  race.  The  attempts  to  in- 
struct and  civilize  them  have  for  the  most  part  proved 
a  failure  ;  the  dolce  far  niente,  equally  dear  to  the  un- 
lettered savage  as  to  the  effeminate  European,  has 
resumed  its  sway ;  and  the  emancipated  Africans,  dis- 
persed in  the  woods,  or  in  cabins  erected  amidst 
ruined  plantations,  are  fast  relapsing  into  the  state  in 
which  their  ancestors  were  when  they  were  torn  from 
their  native  seats  by  the  rapacity  of  Christian  avarice." 
But  the  emancipation  of  her  slaves  by  Great  Britain 
was  an  indispensable  step  in  her  crusade  against  Amer- 
ican slavery.  The  abolition  of  slavery  by  England  was 
a  great  fact,  and  has  had  immense  power  upon  the 
minds  of  Americans.  There  has  been  no  occasion  to 
examine  into  the  propriety,  expediency,  or  humanity  of 
the  act ;  everybody,  until  of  late,  has  considered  the 
sacrifice  of  money  involved  in  the  measure  as  sufficient 
evidence  that  it  could  have  been  prompted  only  by 


270  A   HISTORY    OF 

principles  of  justice.  Without  examination,  without 
reflection,  and  without  question,  the  step  taken  by  Eng- 
land in  emancipating  her  slaves,  has  been  placed  to  her 
credit,  and  for  that  act  her  praises  have  been  preached 
arid  sung  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

The  course  pursued  by  England  towards  her  slave 
colonies  was,  under  the  lead  of  British  emissaries,  at- 
tempted by  the  free  upon  the  slave  states  in  this  coun- 
try. It  was  thought  that  the  insurrections  of  St.  Do- 
mingo and  Jamaica  could  be  repeated  in  the  South,  and 
immediately  on  the  passage  by  Parliament  of  her  first 
act  of  emancipation,  the  subject  of  emancipation  in  the 
United  States  was  opened  with  uncommon  violence. 
American  abolition  societies  were  formed  under  the  lead 
and  auspices  of  British  societies,  and,  by  the  aid  of 
foreign  gold,  the  United  States  was  deluged  with  anti- 
slavery  publications.  In  1834  the  number  of  abolition- 
ists in  this  country  was  small ;  but,  with  the  aid  they 
received  from  abroad,  they  were  enabled  to  create  a 
profound  sensation  by  their  labors,  and  to  one  who  was 
unsuspecting  of  their  foreign  alliances  and  subsidies, 
their  exertions  and  expenditures  were  thought  astonish- 
ing. British  abolitionists  were  in  correspondence  with 
our  Congressmen  and  other  prominent  public  men,  and 
abolition  emissaries  from  that  country  came  across  the 
Atlantic  to  teach  the  true  principles  of  liberty.  It  was 
during  the  administration  of  Jackson,  and  about  the 
time  of  the  British  emancipation  movement,  that  a 
noted  George  Thompson,  for  instance,  made  his  ap- 
pearance amongst  us.  But  England  soon  found  that 
this  country  was  not  prepared  for  the  active  measures 
she  would  enforce  upon  us.  The  United  States,  that 
power  was  again  taught,  was  not  exactly  the  West 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  271 

India  Islands.  All  of  sufficient  age  well  recollect  the 
attempt  to  repeat  in  the  South  the  West  India  mission- 
ary movement.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  British  in- 
structors Northern  abolitionists  commenced  their  labors 
in  the  slave  states,  and  began  to  awaken  the  apprehen- 
sions of  slaveholders.  But  the  Southern  masters  were 
not  dependent  for  protection  on  a  legislature  three 
thousand  miles  off,  in  which  they  had  no  voice  ;  and,  as 
they  were  disinclined  to  submit  to  the  fate  experienced 
by  the  slaveholders  in  St.  Domingo,  they  dealt  rather 
summarily  with  the  Yankee  crusaders ;  and  hence  the 
stringent  laws  in  the  South  against  giving  instruction 
to  slaves.  Several  emissaries  of  Northern  and  British 
abolition  societies  were  in  those  days  caught  in  the 
humane  and  philanthropic  mission  of  exciting  slaves  to 
rebellion  and  murder  ;  but  the  harsh  justice  dealt  out 
to  them  by  Judge  Lynch,  who  happened  to  hold  his 
court  in  the  South,  at  once  put  an  end  to  the  system 
which  had  accomplished  so  much  in  the  British  West 
Indies.  In  those  days  the  aggression  was  from  the 
North ;  Southern  aggression  was  not  then  so  popular 
a  phrase.  Such  assaults  upon  their  institutions  exas- 
perated the  Southern  people,  and  taught  them  what 
they  were  to  expect  from  their  Northern  neighbors, 
and  did  much  to  bring  into  existence  the  ultra  Southern 
pro-slavery  party,  which  is  impatient  to  dissolve  all  con- 
nection with  the  North.  But  perhaps  those  attempts 
upon  Southern  institutions,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made,  were  too  rudely  checked.  Some  Northern  mis- 
sionaries were  tried  by  lynch-law  —  perhaps  executed. 
Southern  barbarity  was  then  gravely  enlarged  upon,  and 
the  blood  of  God's  servants  was  made  the  seed  of  the 
Northern  abolition  church.  But,  as  the  overthrow  of 
24 


272  A    HISTORY    OF 

slavery  could  not  be  effected  by  the  missionary  move- 
ment, the  tract  system  was  next  tried.  The  mails  were 
loaded  with  incendiary  publications  for  distribution 
among  the  slaves  —  publications  intended  and  calcu- 
lated to  arouse  their  passions,  and  excite  them  to  insur- 
rection. The  attempt  was  one  directly  upon  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  South,  in  the  original  slave  states.  It 
was  an  effort  to  subvert  Southern  institutions,  acting 
from  the  North,  but  emanating  from  England.  It  has 
ever  been  the  pretence  of  Northern  men  that  they  have 
no  desire  to  meddle  with  slavery  in  the  states  where  it 
exists  by  local  law,  and  that  the  prevention  of  its  fur- 
ther spread  is  all  that  concerns  their  bleeding  hearts. 
But,  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  a  powerful 
effort  was  made  to  incite  the  slaves  of  the  South  to  in- 
surrection, that  they  might  murder  their  masters,  and, 
under  the  protection  of  England  and  Northern  senti- 
ment, establish  their  freedom,  and  perhaps  wrest  the 
South  from  the  Union.  Every  resistance  of  the  South 
to  such  aggressions  from  the  North  was  sounded  through 
New  and  Old  England  as  evidence  of  the  cruel,  aban- 
doned, and  fiendish  disposition  and  character  of  South- 
ern men.  The  mails,  as  we  have  said,  were  loaded  with 
prints  and  pictures  designed  to  arouse  the  vengeance  of 
the  slave.  These  pictures  were  smuggled  amongst  the 
slaves  in  many  ways.  The  wrappers  of  packages  of 
goods,  such  as  tobacco  and  other  articles  consumed  by 
negroes,  were,  upon  their  inner  sides,  covered  with 
pictures  representing  the  slaves  in  chains  and  rags, 
with  lordly  masters  holding  scourges  in  their  hands  ; 
and  many  other  designs  of  like  character  were  im- 
pressed upon  articles  of  dress,  and  pieces  of  paper 
smuggled  into  goods  consumed  by  the  blacks,  and  thus 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  273 

sent  amongst  them.  For  those  that  could  read,  incen- 
diary publications,  directly  advising  them  to  assert  their 
liberties,  were  poured  upon  them  in  great  abundance. 
Considering  the  limited  number  of  the  political  aboli- 
tionists in  the  North  in  those  days,  we  should  be  sur- 
prised at  the  lavish  expenditures  to  produce  insurrec- 
tions in  the  South,  did  we  not  know  that  a  foreign 
power  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  movement.  These 
efforts  produced  a  powerful  commotion  at  the  time. 
Congress  was  exercised  with  the  subject.  Mr.  Calhoun, 
we  think  it  was,  proposed  a  bill  making  it  penal  for  a 
postmaster  to  transmit  or  deliver  from  the  mail,  prints, 
pictures,  and  publications,  of  the  kind  referred  to  ;  and, 
if  recollection  serves  right,  we  think  there  was,  during 
those  days,  much  complaint  in  the  North  about  South- 
ern lawlessness  in  exercising  or  requiring  their  post 
masters  to  exercise  a  surveillance  over  the  matter  pass- 
ing through  the  mail.  That  was  one  of  the  grave  charges 
against  the  South. 

During  the  administration  of  Jackson,  also,  and  at 
about  the  same  time  of  which  we  have  been  speaking, 
the  nation  was  thunderstruck  at  the  simultaneous  ap- 
pearance, from  all  parts  of  the  land,  —  from  Ohio,  Penn- 
sylvania, New  York,  New  England,  and  almost  every 
free  state,  —  of  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  And,  as  these  petitions  were  all 
signed  by  a  conscientious  and  highly  Christian  people, 
the  petitioners  could  not  forego  the  solemn  duty  of  de- 
nouncing slavery  as  a  damning  sin,  and  a  scandalous 
reproach  to  the  nation.  That  Southern  senators  and 
members  of  Congress  should  manifest  impatience  at  such 
representations  of  their  institutions,  was  only  another 
instance  and  evidence  of  the  abandoned  and  sunken  moral 


274  A   HISTORY   OP 

condition  of  that  section  of  the  country.  The  North 
knew  that  slavery  was  a  monstrous  sin.  If  the  Southern 
people  doubted  it,  so  much  the  more  benighted  must  they 
have  been.  Mr.  Calhoun  objected  to  the  reception  of 
the  petitions  on  the  ground  of  privilege  ;  he  thought 
that  the  member's  constituents  should  be  protected  from 
insult  as  well  as  the  member  himself.  But,  although 
scarcely  a  member  of  either  house  was  in  favor  of  the 
object  of  these  petitions,  many  were  in  favor  of  their 
reception,  out  of  regard  to  the  sacredness  of  the  right 
of  petition.  The  appearance  of  these  petitions  occa- 
sioned much  discussion  and  excitement  in  Congress, 
and  the  covert  object  of  their  movers  was  seen  by  the 
leading  men  of  the  day.  The  attack  upon  the  South 
was  systematic  and  vigorous.  Up  to  that  day,  at  least, 
the  South  had  been  passive  under  the  encroachments 
of  the  North.  The  acquisition  of  Texas  and  other  gigan- 
tic strides  of  the  slave  power,  as  we  term  it,  have  taken 
place  since  that  time.  But  Southern  men  saw  the  ob- 
ject of  those  who  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  petition 
movement,  and  exercised  a  conservative  forbearance  in 
the  matter.  The  remarks  of  Mr.  King,  of  Georgia,  in 
1836,  upon  the  motion  of  Mr.  Calhoun  not  to  receive 
one  of  these  abolition  memorials,  were  conceived  in  a 
clear  insight  into  the  aims  of  the  Northern  agitators. 
"  We  may  seek  occasion  (says  Mr.  King)  to  rave  about 
our  rights,  appeal  to  the  guarantees  of  the  Constitution, 
denounce  the  abolitionists,  &c.  &c.,  and  Arthur  Tappan 
and  his  pious  fraternity  would  very  coolly  remark, 
'  Well,  that  is  precisely  what  I  wanted  ;  I  wanted  agi- 
tation in  the  South ;  I  wished  to  provoke  the  "autocratic 
slaveholder "  to  make  extravagant  demands  on  the 
North,  which  the  North  could  not  consistently  surren- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  275 

der  to  them.  I  wished  them,  under  the  pretext  of  se- 
curing their  own  rights,  to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of 
all  the  American  people.  In  short,  I  wish  to  change 
the  issue/  '  And,  although  he  regarded  such  petitions 
as  insulting,  and  a  gross  outrage  upon  the  South,  Mr. 
King  advised  their  reception  as  the  most  effectual  way 
of  defeating  the  real  object  of  their  originators. 

That  the  object  of  the  abolition  movements  of  those 
days  was  not  humanity,  but  to  produce  a  sectional 
hatred  between  the  North  and  South,  was  clearly  dis- 
cernible by  every  rational  observer.  The  means  of  the 
truly  Christian  reformer  are  gentle  and  peaceable,  and 
originate  in  love  ;  but  diabolical  hatred  has  ever  been 
the  prominent  characteristic  of  the  abolitionist.  His 
language  and  acts  have  ever  marked  him  as  one  in 
league  with  the  enemies  of  our  country.  This  has  been 
seen,  felt,  and  regretted,  by  the  intelligent  and  patriotic 
portions  of  both  North  and  South.  Hatred  begets  hatred. 
There  could  be  no  surer  way  to  alienate  the  South  from 
the  North  than  for  the  latter  to  array  itself  against  the 
former.  The  tendencies  of  these  Abolition  crusades 
were  at  an  early  day  pointed  out  by  our  first  statesmen  ; 
by  none  with  more  force  and  feeling  than  by  Henry  Clay. 
Speaking  of  the  means  made  use  of  by  the  abolitionists, 
he  said  (1836)  :  "Another,  and  much  more  lamentable 
one,  is  that  which  this  class  is  endeavoring  to  employ, 
of  arraying  one  portion  against  another  of  the  Union. 
With  that  view,  in  all  their  leading  prints  and  publica- 
tions, the  alleged  horrors  of  slavery  are  depicted  in  most 
glowing  and  exaggerated  colors,  to  excite  imaginations 
and  stimulate  the  rage  of  the  people  of  the  free  states 
against  the  people  of  the  slave  states.  The  slave- 
holder is  held  up  and  represented  as  the  most  atrocious 
24* 


276  A    HISTORY    OF 

of  human  beings.  Advertisements  of  fugitive  slaves, 
and  of  slaves  to  be  sold,  are  carefully  collected  and 
blazoned  forth,  to  infuse  a  spirit  of  detestation  and 
hatred  against  one  entire  and  the  largest  section  of  the 
Union.  .  .  .  Why  are  the  slave  states  wantonly  and  cruelly 
assailed  ?  Why  does  the  abolition  press  teem  with  pub- 
lications tending  to  excite  hatred  and  animosity  on  the 
part  of  the  free  states  against  the  slave  states  ?  .  .  . 
Why  is  Congress  petitioned  ?  What  would  be  thought 
of  the  formation  of  societies  in  the  slave  states,  the 
issuing  of  violent  and  inflammatory  tracts,  and  the  dep- 
utation of  missionaries,  pouring  out  impassioned  denun- 
ciations against  institutions  under  the  exclusive  control 
of  the  free  states  ?  Is  their  purpose  to  appeal  to  our 
understandings  and  actuate  our  humanity  ?  And  do 
they  expect  to  accomplish  that  purpose  by  holding  us 
up  to  scorn,  and  contempt,  and  detestation  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  free  states,  and  the  whole  civilized  world  ?  .  .  . 
Sir,  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  speaking  lightly  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  dissolving  this  happy  Union.  The  Senate 
knows  that  I  have  deprecated  allusions,  on  ordinary 
occasions,  to  that  direful  event.  The  country  will  tes- 
tify that,  if  there  be  anything  in  the  history  of  my  pub- 
lic career  worthy  of  recollection,  it  is  the  truth  and 
sincerity  of  my  ardent  devotion  to  its  lasting  preser- 
vation. But  we  should  be  false  in  our  allegiance  to  it, 
if  we  did  not  discriminate  between  the  imaginary  and 
real  dangers  by  which  it  may  be  assailed.  Abolition 
should  no  longer  be  regarded  as  an  imaginary  danger. 
The  abolitionists,  let  me  suppose,  succeed  in  their  pres- 
ent aim  of  uniting  the  inhabitants  of  the  free  states  as 
one  man  against  the  inhabitants  of  the  slave  states. 
Union  on  the  one  side  will  beget  union  on  the  other. 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  277 

And  this  process  of  reciprocal  consolidation  will  be 
attended  with  all  the  violent  prejudices,  embittered  pas- 
sions, and  implacable  animosities  which  ever  degraded 
or  deformed  human  nature.  A  virtual  dissolution  of  the 
Union  will  have  taken  place,  while  the  forms  of  its  ex- 
istence remain.  The  most  valuable  element  of  union, 
mutual  kindness,  the  feelings  of  sympathy,  the  fraternal 
bonds,  which  now  happily  unite  us,  wrill  have  been  ex- 
tinguished forever.  One  section  will  stand  in  menacing, 
hostile  array  against  another;  the  collision  of  opinion 
will  be  quickly  followed  by  the  clash  of  arms. " 

The  part  taken  by  England  in  educating  the  masses 
of  the  North  for  disunion  is  not  visible  to  everybody, 
because,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Henry  mission,  her  opera- 
tions are  secret.  Her  long-continued  jealousy  of  our 
growing  power  and  influence  we  have  seen  and  felt ; 
but  that  she  would  secretly  intrigue  and  labor  for  our 
overthrow  we  cannot  credit,  because  she  is  a  marvel- 
lously benevolent  nation,  and  is  opposed  to  slavery  ! 


278  A   HISTOEY   OF 


CHAPTER    XXY. 

CAMPAIGN  OF  1835,  1836.  -. —  CURRENCY  QUESTION.  —  RETROGRADE   REVO- 
LUTION OF  THE  DEMOCRACY.  —  THE  NEW  SYSTEM   BROUGHT  ABOUT   BY 

VAN  BUREN  TO  INSURE  HIS  SUCCESSION.  —  VAN  BUREN  ELECTED.  — 
SPEECHES  OF  WEBSTER.  —  COMMERCIAL  REVULSION  OF  1837,  AND 
CAUSES. — BENTON'S  THIRTY  YEARS'  VIEW.  —  VAN  BUREN'S  SUB- 
TREASURY  SCHEME.  —  TRAITS  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  —  SPEECHES 

OF  CLAY    AND  WEBSTER    ON    THE   SUB-TREASURY. JOHN    C.  CALHOUN 

AND  HIS  RECONCILIATION  WITH  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY,  ETC. 

THE  campaign  of  1836  is  too  recent  to  need  a 
lengthy  notice.  The  veto  of  the  United  States  Bank 
charter ;  the  removal  of  the  government  funds  to  the 
state  banks  ;  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  censuring 
the  President  for  that  removal ;  the  President's  protest 
to  the  Senate  against  that  resolution  ;  and  the  expung- 
ing act  of  the  Senate,  were  the  subjects  of  warm  polit- 
ical debates  during  those  days.  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel 
Webster  were  the  acknowledged  leaders  of  the  Whigs, 
and  the  grounds  on  which  these  statesmen  opposed  the 
administration  were  accepted  by  the  party  generally, 
and  adopted  as  in  accordance  with  Whig  principles. 
The  expositions  of  Clay  and  Webster,  in  regard  to  cur- 
rency and  political  economy,  were  considered  rational 
and  sound ;  and,  although  in  the  minority,  the  Whigs 
embraced  a  large  share  of  the  talent  and  business  expe- 
rience of  the  land.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  their 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  279 

efforts  would  infallibly  have  insured  success  ;  but  the 
popularity  of  the  hero  of  New  Orleans  was  an  extraor- 
dinary obstacle  in  their  way.  To  the  millions  who  were 
incapable  of  investigating  and  deciding  on  the  princi- 
ples of  political  economy,  the  name  of  the  patriotic 
soldier  was  more  potent  than  that  of  the  civilian.  Pos- 
terity will  decide  correctly  upon  the  administration  of 
Jackson.  Although  he  may  have  made  some  wretched 
blunders  during  his  presidential  term,  his  administra- 
tion was  not,  as  his  biassed  opponents  were  disposed  to 
claim,  altogether  a  failure.  But  the  candid  reviewer  of 
the  administration  of  the  General  must  acknowledge  that 
his  affected  attempt  to  carry  the  principles  of  gov- 
ernment back  to  the  policy  of  Jefferson,  was  a  sad  mis- 
take. It  effected,  as  already  shown,  a  revolution  in  the 
domestic  policy  of  the  country.  It  was  a  leap  back- 
wards over  the  combined  wisdom  and  experience  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  And  what  renders  that  retrograde 
step  particularly  censurable  is,  that  it  was  not  taken  as 
a  means  to  secure  the  triumph  of  President  Jackson,  — 
which  was  secure  enough  without  such  a  resort, — but 
was  taken  to  secure  the  success  of  his  successor.  Un- 
less a  new  policy  should  be  adopted,  —  a  policy  glossed 
•with  the  glory  of  the  hero,  and  exclusively  supported  by 
the  chieftain's  favorite, — that  favorite  would  fare  poorly, 
it  was  thought,  in  his  struggle  for  the  presidency  in 
competition  with  many  abler  and  more  popular  states- 
men than  himself.  The  scheme  was  successful.  Jack- 
son reigned  long  enough  to  see  the  monster  crushed, 
and  the  American  system  of  protection  overturned. 
The  campaign  of  1836  opened  with  Van  Buren,  the  sole 
exponent  of  the  measures  of  Jackson's  administration, 
upon  the  track.  He  was  pledged  to  follow  in  his  pre- 


280  A   HISTORY   OF 

decessor's  footsteps.  The  undertaking  was  a  daring 
one,  as  represented  by  the  caricaturists  of  that  day. 
General  Harrison  was  the  Whig  candidate.  Although 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  successful,  it  was  seen  that  the 
faith  of  the  nation  had  become  somewhat  shaken  in  the 
new  principles  espoused  by  the  Democracy.  The  vote 
in  opposition  to  Van  Buren  was  large  enough  to  startle 
the  administration  party,  and  did  somewhat  surprise 
them,  in  view  of  their  decline  from  the  immense  majori- 
ties of  General  Jackson.  General  Harrison  received 
seventy-five  electoral  votes ;  twenty-six  (namely,  of 
Georgia  and  Tennessee)  were  cast  for  Hugh  L.  White  ; 
fourteen  (of  Massachusetts)  for  Mr.  Webster,  and  South 
Carolina  voted  for  Mr.  Mangum  :  whereas  Van  Buren 
received  but  one  hundred  and  seventy.  The  doctrines 
and  principles  of  the  Whigs  had,  even  at  that  period, 
made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.  The  speeches  of  Clay  and  Webster  were 
quite  generally  read,  and  those  of  Mr.  Webster,  put 
forth  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  on  the  stump, 
during  the  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  administrations,  are 
the  most  masterly  expositions  of  the  principles  of  polit- 
ical economy  to  be  found  in  our  language.  For  re- 
search, for  originality,  for  depth  of  thought,  and  for 
thorough  analysis  of  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 
of  currency  and  of  trade,  Mr.  Webster's  speeches  were 
immeasurably  superior  to  Mr.  Clay's.  Mr.  Clay  was 
undoubtedly,  in  many  respects,  the  most  pleasing  ora- 
tor ;  but  the  speeches  of  Webster  became  at  once  not 
only  oracles  in  matters  of  political  science,  but  also 
treasures  of  literature. 

No  party  ever  had  a  brighter  array  of  upright,  intel- 
ligent, and  popular  statesman  than  rallied  in  the  Whig 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  281 

ranks  throughout  all  parts  of  the  Union  ;  nor  has  a  party 
ever  been  so  noted  for  the  number  and  high  character 
of  its  public  journals.  The  eight  years  in  the  minor- 
ity, prior  to  1836,  had  not  been  without  promising 
results.  Probably  the  world  never  before  witnessed 
such  a  struggle  ;  it  was  a  struggle  between  reason  and 
prejudice  ;  an  encounter  of  moral  forces,  without  the 
interposition  of  physical  power.  The  struggle  was  not 
in  vain.  The  principles  then  espoused  by  the  Whigs, 
so  far  as  they  have  triumphed  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  have  shed  blessings  upon  the  country ;  and,  so 
far  as  they  were  right,  will  sooner  or  later  become  all- 
prevailing.  Party  organizations  are  not  stable  crea- 
tions ;  but  political  principles  are  enduring. 

The  error  of  the  Van  Buren  dynasty  (for,  although 
the  new  system  of  Democratic  policy  was  ostensibly 
carved  out  by  Jackson,  it  was  thought  in  reality  to  be 
the  handiwork  of  Van  Buren)  was  soon  revealed  by 
its  disastrous  fruits.  The  overthrow  of  the  national 
currency,  and  the  expansion  of  credit  consequent  on 
the  deposit  of  the  government  funds  in  the  state  banks, 
enhanced  the  prices  of  foreign  commodities,  and  aided, 
with  the  reduction  $f  duties  by  the  compromise  tariff, 
immense  importations  of  foreign  goods.  The  fatal  con- 
sequences that  must  inevitably  flow  from  such  a  state 
of  things  a  sane  people  would  have  foreseen.  During 
the  last  four  years  of  Jackson's  administration,  the 
excess  of  importations  over  exportations  was  $130,000,- 
000.  This  was  in  a  great  measure  the  result  of  the 
compromise  measure  of  1832.  Under  that  measure 
each  year  saw  a  reduction  of  duties  on  foreign  goods. 
But,  as  the  destruction  of  the  national  bank  occasioned 
the  creation  of  a  large  number  of  state  banks  ;  and  as 


282  A    HISTORY   OF 

the  state  banks,  encouraged  thereto  by  the  deposit  of 
government  moneys,  and  the  recommendation  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  loaned  out  their  bills  with 
great  liberality,  the  insidious  workings  of  the  compro- 
mise tariif  act  were  for  a  long  time  unperceived.  General 
Jackson  left  the  presidential  chair  congratulating  him- 
self on  the  prosperous  and  happy  condition  of  the 
country.  But  scarcely  had  Mr.  Van  Buren  been  inau- 
gurated (March,  183T)  before  the  premonitory  symp- 
toms of  the  most  terrible  monetary  revulsion  this 
country  has  ever  experienced  were  felt.  In  fact,  the 
first  act  of  his  administration  was  to  call  a  special 
session  of  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  some 
relief  to  the  country.  Such  wide-spread  bankruptcy 
was  never  witnessed.  As  the  fruits — not  the  cause 
—  of  the  rotten  system  of  currency  established  by 
the  policy  of  the  administration,  much  wild  speculation 
had  been  indulged  in,  which  greatly  added  to  the  de- 
vastation and  ruin  brought  upon  the  land  by  the  con- 
tinued drain  upon  our  precious  metals,  to  pay  the 
balances  which  our  foreign  trade  continually  created 
against  us.  Our  trade,  foreign  and  domestic,  was  sub- 
ject to  no  regulator — no  regulation.  The  currency 
bore  no  relation  to  the  intrinsic  value  of  property,  not 
to  the  amount  of  specie  in  the  country ;  and  as  soon  as 
the  day  of  adjustment  and  settlement  with  the  creditor 
at  whose  mercy  our  trade  placed  us,  arrived,  we  found 
that  both  our  money  and  our  property  were  but  fictions. 
But  Mr.  Van  Buren  met  the  storm  with  stoic  cool- 
ness. He  was  still  the  exponent  —  many  thought  him 
the  inventor — of  Jacksonian  Democracy.  Both  houses 
of  Congress  were  still  true  to  the  faith.  The  Whigs 
urged,  as  means  of  relief,  the  reestablishrnent  of  the 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  283 

measures  overthrown  by  Jackson  ;  but  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  not  diverted  from  the  system  he  had  for  some  years 
been  maturing.  From  occasional  expressions  made  use 
of  by  General  Jackson,  in  his  messages,  it  had  for  a 
long  time  been  apparent  that  he  or  his  cabinet  contem- 
plated some  new  method  of  collecting  and  managing  the 
public  revenues.  The  scheme  thus  meditated  was  by 
Mr.  Van  Buren  put  forth  in  his  Sub-Treasury  Bill,  or 
Independent  Treasury,  as  it  was  called.  It  was  the 
main  measure  of  his  administration.  It  appears  that 
he  had  investigated  extensively  the  treasury  systems 
of  the  little  states  of  Europe,  and  framed  his  sub-treas- 
ury after  their  model.  The  system  was  based  upon  the 
idea  that  it  was  not  the  duty  or  business  of  the  general 
government  to  furnish  the  country  with  the  ordinary 
currency  with  which  the  business  of  the  world  is  carried 
on  ;  that  its  duty  is  limited  to  the  regulation  of  the  basis 
of  that  currency  -—  to  wit,  of  the  gold  and  silver.  The 
new  theory  of  Democracy  was  that  Congress  had  no 
power  to  act  beyond  the  letter  of  the  Constitution 
which  provides  that  government  shall  have  the  exclu- 
sive power  of  coining  money  ;  and  the  provision  that 
Congress  shall  regulate  commerce  was  not  considered 
as  having  a  bearing  upon  the  subject.  As  commerce 
could  not  exist  with  nothing  but  a  specie  currency,  and 
as  the  safe  and  correct  adjustment  of  the  mixed  or 
paper  currency  is  of  perhaps  more  vital  importance 
to  the  American  people,  and  more  essential  to  their 
prosperity  and  happiness,  than  the  proper  regulation 
of  simply  one  of  its  main  or  principal  elements,  the 
Whigs,  and  many  of  the  Democratic  statesmen,  insisted 
that  the  general  government  should  charge  itself  with 
the  duty  of  exercising  a  control  over  the  natural  and 
25 


284  A   HISTORY   OF 

ordinary  currency  of  the  country.  The  argument  is 
somewhat  potent.  The  reason  why  the  state  legislature 
may  not  as  well  enjoy  the  privilege  of  coining  specie, 
as  of  creating  paper  money,  is  not  apparent,  as  legisla- 
tive abuse  in  the  latter  is  more  likely  to  occur  than  in 
the  former  kind  of  money.  It  is  well  to  give  the  coin- 
age of  hard  money  to  the  general  government,  and  still 
better  to  give  it  the  charge  of  the  real  currency  of  the 
land. 

The  innovation  of  the  new  dynasty  was  evidently  in 
opposition  to  the  better  judgment  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  administration.  Both  houses  of  Congress 
were  strongly  Democratic  ;  but  they  repudiated,  at  its 
first  presentation,  the  independent  treasury  scheme  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  history  of  those  days  is  familiar 
to  the  reader.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  rejection 
of  the  United  States  Bank  charter  was  by  veto,  and  in 
opposition  to  the  majority  of  a  strongly  Democratic 
Congress.  The  workings  of  the  state  bank  system  will 
occur  to  the  mind  of  the  reader.  The  fact  that  an  over- 
flowing treasury,  from  receipts  of  millions  from  sales  of 
public  lands,  was  giving  those  state  depositories  of 
public  moneys  still  further  power  of  expansion,  will 
not  be  forgotten.  The  forward-cast  shadow  of  the  sub- 
treasury  scheme  seen  during  Jackson's  administration, 
to  wit,  the  specie  circular,  as  it  was  called,  will  be 
borne  in  mind.  The  astonishment  with  which  that 
circular,  which  was  an  order  to  revenue  officers  and 
others,  that  pay  for  lands  should  be  only  received  in 
specie,  burst  upon  the  country,  can  never  pass  out  of 
the  mind  of  one  who  lived  in  those  days.  The  pro- 
priety of  such  a  measure  was  tried  in  Congress  by  Mr. 
Benton,  and  almost  unanimously  rejected,  although 


THE   WHIG    PAETY.  285 

that  Congress  was  strongly  Democratic.  Still,  eleven 
days  after  adjournment,  the  President,  on  his  own 
authority,  arid  against  the  advice  of  his  cabinet,  caused 
that  circular  to  be  issued.  It  was  a  preparatory  step  to 
the  sub-treasury  measure,  but  was  taken  too  late.  The 
previous  course  of  the  administration  had  favored  a 
state  of  things  that  rendered  the  adoption  of  the  sub- 
treasury  policy  revolutionary  and  ruinous.  The  revul- 
sion came,  and  fell  upon  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  The  banks  all  suspended,  the  business  of  the 
country  was  ruined,  credit  destroyed,  and  millions  of 
people  who  had  been  wealthy,  or  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances, rendered  bankrupt.  The  country  for  a  long 
time  staggered  and  reeled  under  the  malady,  like  a 
person  prostrated  from  loss  of  blood.  It  was  a  touch- 
ing spectacle.  The  country  was  young,  full  of  energy, 
courage  and  hope,  and  frequently  brought  to  play  all 
of  her  powers  to  arise  and  shake  off  her  troubles  ;  but, 
as  with  the  ambitious  and  impatient  invalid,  her  faculties 
would  not  obey  her  will.  Specie  payments  by  the 
banks  were  only  renewed  for  new  suspensions  ;  manu- 
factories were  closed  ;  exchanges  destroyed ;  money 
disappeared ;  and  the  value  of  property  depreciated 
beyond  precedent. 

Mr.  Yan  Buren  had  nothing  but  his  sub-treasury  to 
offer.  He  repudiated  the  idea  that  it  was  the  concern 
of  government  to  render  aid  or  protection  to  the  busi- 
ness interests  of  the  country.  It  was  asserted  that 
the  people  had  been  improvident  and  rash  in  specula- 
tions, and  that  it  was  sufficient  for  the  government  to 
look  out  for  its  own  revenues,  without  embarrassing 
itself  with  the  unthrifty  affairs  of  the  people.  The 
administration  was  afflicted  with  the  misfortunes  of  the 


286  A    HISTORY    OF 

land  ;  the  treasury  was  empty ;  the  suspension  of  the 
banks  closed  upon  the  nation's  money,  and  the  officials 
of  the  administration  were  without  funds  for  ordinary 
expenses.  Revenue  came  in  slowly  and  in  small  quan- 
tities, leaving  government  to  its  ordinary  shifts  in  such 
cases  of  issuing  treasury  notes,  and  obtaining  loans. 
The  sub-treasury  project  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  adhered 
to,  and  finally  passed,  under  his  administration.  By 
this  a  divorce  was  proclaimed  between  the  government 
and  the  people.  The  improvidence  of  the  people  was 
no  longer  to  torment  the  government.  The  revenues, 
by  the  sub-treasury  system,  were  to  be  collected  in  hard 
money,  and  kept  in  the  hands  of  the  agents  of  the  gov- 
ernment, subject  to  the  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  That  this  is  a  simple  and  safe  method  of 
managing  the  state's  finances,  no  one  will  dispute.  It 
is  the  miser's  system.  It  is  a  cautious,  careful,  safe,  and 
entirely  reliable  system  ;  without  mystery,  without  the 
intricacy  of  scientific  principles,  and  without  the  com- 
plications of  the  abstruse  principles  of  finance.  It  is 
well  intended  to  carry  out  the  theory  on  which  it  is 
based  —  that  is,  that  government  has  no  concern  with 
the  business  interests  of  the  country.  Despotism  is  the 
simplest  of  all  governments,  and  republics  the  most 
complicated.  The  sub-treasury  system  is  as  old  as  des- 
potism, and  as  simple.  In  proportion  as  people  have 
emancipated  themselves  from  despotic  authority,  and 
established  free  institutions,  the  ruling  power  has  been 
administered  with  special  reference,  not  to  its  own  ease 
and  security,  but  to  that  of  the  people.  England  is  the 
freest  government  in  the  Old  World,  and  consequently 
her  system  is  intricate  and  complicated  ;  although  not  so 
much  so  as  that  of  the  still  more  free  United  States. 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  287 

The  stability  of  the  English  currency  is  due  to  the 
controlling  wisdom  of  the  British  government,  which 
has  never  yet,  like  an  ancient  despot,  divorced  itself  from 
the  people,  or  declared  itself  without  any  duty  in  regard 
to  the  regulation  of  commerce  and  currency.  America 
can  prosper,  and  has  prospered,  under  the  sub-treasury 
system.  It  prospered  under  the  confederation,  when  we 
could  hardly  be  said  to  have  any  government  at  all. 
We  get  a  sound  specie  basis  from  Congress,  and  the 
states,  fortunately,  usually  afford  a  fair  paper  cur- 
rency. But,  without  the  control  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, the  currency,  especially  as  the  laws  of  trade  are 
disregarded,  and  all  authority  of  government  over  them 
is  repudiated,  must  ever  be  unstable,  and  subject  to 
revulsions. 

The  sub-treasury  measure,  of  course,  was  ably  dis- 
cussed in  and  out  of  Congress.  The  principles  of 
currency,  and  of  the  duties  of  our  government  in 
regard  to  it,  were  ably  and  unanswerably  set  forth  in 
the  speeches  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster.  The 
speeches  of  Mr.  Webster  upon  the  sub-treasury  project 
are  the  most  instructive  expositions  of  the  principles 
of  currency  to  be  found.  They  contain  a  mine  of  in- 
formation, and  the  doctrines  embodied  in  them  will 
some  day  Lurst  forth,  from  the  dust  that  now  covers 
them,  with  volcanic  power.  It  cannot  be  that  such 
men  as  Madison,  Hamilton,  Adams,  Jay,  Washington, 
Monroe,  Crawford,  Lowndes,  Clay  and  Webster,  were 
the  victims  of  delusion  in  regard  to  these  matters.  It 
cannot  be  that  the  Democratic  Congresses  through 
which  Jackson  arid  Van  Buren  were  unable  to  force 
their  scheme,  were  the  corrupt,  bank-bought  knaves 
25* 


288  A   HISTORY    OP 

that  the  friends  of  Jackson   and  Van  Buren  charged 
them  to  be. 

It  is  matter  of  history  that  the  sub-treasury  project, 
at  its  outset,  found  but  little  favor  in  Democratic  Con- 
gresses, or  among  Democratic  cabinets.  It  was  an 
emanation  from  the  brain  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  It  at  all 
times  had  one  friend  ;  that  was  Thomas  II.  Bentoii. 
He  favored  the  sub-treasury,  and  its  forerunner  the 
specie  circular.  Colonel  Benton,  in  his  Thirty  Years' 
View,  has  put  forth  a  curious  history  of  these  measures, 
and  has  labored,  in  some  instances  with  shallow  per- 
ceptions, to  vindicate  them.  For  instance,  he  represents 
that  the  great  revulsion  of  183T,  commencing  with 
bank  suspensions,  was  the  work  of  Nick  Biddle  and  the 
Whigs,  got  up  on  purpose  to  embarrass  the  administra- 
tion !  For  this  purpose,  he  gravely  gives  accounts  of 
speeches,  meetings,  letters,  etc.,  which  no  more  indicate 
such  a  purpose  than  they  foreshadow  a  gunpowder 
plot.  But  what  renders  laughable  all  this  lengthy 
effort  in  his  work  to  prove  that  these  revulsions  were 
not  the  results  of  a  really  mismanaged  currency,  but 
the  stratagems  of  political  opponents,  is  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Benton,  in  his  same  Thirty  Years'  View,  boasts 
that  he  himself  had,  the  preceding  year,  foreseen  that 
such  a  crash  was  inevitable !  Yes  ;  he  tells  us  that 
upon  one  occasion  he  took  the  President  aside  to  cau- 
tion him  ;  but,  as  Mr.  Van  Buren  treated  his  suggestions 
lightly,  simply  asking  him  if  "  he  was  not  exalted  in 
the  head  upon  that  subject  ?  "  he  was  disgusted,  and 
concluded  that  he  would  let  his  friend  proceed  in 
his  happy  ignorance.  The  colonel,  however,  says  that 
he  afterwards  regretted  that  he  did  not  overlook  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  levity,  and  expose  to  him  the  true  state 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  289 

of  affairs.  lie  tells  us,  that,  from  his  connection  with 
committees  in  the  Senate,  he  had  better  means  of  infor- 
mation than  the  President,  and  has  no  doubt  but  Mr. 
Van  Buren  would  have  done  justice  to  his  statement  of 
facts,  had  he  felt  like  making  it  to  him.  Now,  as  the 
colonel  knew  that  there  was  a  real  occasion  for  such 
a  revulsion,  from  his  acquaintance  with  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  country,  his  attempt  to  charge  it  upon 
the  Whigs,  as  an  affair  got  up  by  them  to  afflict  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  must  be  thought  rather  a  queer  piece  of 
business.  But,  as  Colonel  Benton  was  an  upright  man, 
and  had  the  real  interests  of  the  country  at  heart,  his 
visions  and  vanities  may,  at  this  day,  be  passed  by 
without  much  comment. 

The  election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  led  to  the  restoration 
of  Mr.  Calhoun  to  the  Democratic  ranks.  The  position 
of  Mr.  Calhoun  for  some  ten  or  twelve  years  had  been 
unnatural  and  false  before  the  people.  That  gentleman 
was  at  heart  a  thorough  Democrat,  and  the  great  incon- 
sistencies of  his  political  life  resulted  from  the  position 
he  was  forced  into  by  the  unjust  and  cruel  quarrel 
which  had  been  provoked  between  him  and  Jackson. 
He  was  Vice-President  during  President  Jackson's  first 
term,  and  had  been  powerfully  instrumental  of  the 
general's  election,  and  was  the  most  prominent  man 
in  the  party  for  his  successor.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  an 
able  statesman,  and  truly  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
General  Jackson  ;  but,  as  before  has  been  shown,  the 
general's  wrath  was  excited  against  him,  and  a  bitter 
personal  quarrel  ensued  between  those  leading  Demo- 
crats. Although  Mr.  Van  Buren  enjoyed  the  benefit 
of  that  rupture,  was  substituted  for  Mr.  Calhoun  as 
Vice-President,  during  Jackson's  second  term,  and 


290  A   HISTORY   OF 

became  the  general's  successor  in  the  presidential 
office,  still  Mr.  Calhoun  was  disposed  to  overlook  and 
forgive  all,  for  the  sake  of  again  finding  repose  and  a 
home  in  the  bosom  of  the  party  that  he  really  loved, 
and  from  which  he  had  thus  been  an  exile.  To  favor 
his  return  to  the  favor  and  support  of  the  Democratic 
party,  General  Jackson,  at  the  solicitation  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren  as  was  supposed,  issued  his  certificate,  acquit- 
ting the  latter  from  all  complicity  in  the  quarrel  which 
had  rendered  Mr.  Calhoun  an  enemy  of  his  adminis- 
tration. The  support  of  measures  by  Mr.  Calhoun, 
under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  which  he 
had  opposed  under  that  of  Jackson,  subjected  his 
political  life  to  the  charge  of  inconsistency,  which  he 
could  not  satisfactorily  defend,  and  which  his  enemies, 
not  liberal  enough  to  sympathize  with  him  under  the 
unjust  and  cruel  usage  he  had  received  from  General 
Jackson,  would  not  overlook  or  excuse.  Anything  like 
liberality,  in  our  view  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  course,  would 
disarm  criticism  of  much  of  its  edge,  for  the  heart  of 
that  statesman  abounded  in  the  noblest  qualities.  He 
was  open  and  undisguised  in  his  opinions  and  feel- 
ings, and  scorned  all  attempts  at  carrying  a  measure 
by  intrigue  and  circumvention.  His  nature  was  free 
from  guile,  and  his  breast  was  uniformly  animated  by 
the  sentiments  of  truth  and  honor.  His  defence  against 
the  powerful  and  scathing  attacks  of  Mr.  Clay,  after 
his  espousal  of  the  measures  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 's  ad- 
ministration, can  never  be  read  by  a  political  enemy 
without  inspiring  feelings  of  respect  for  the  true  noble- 
ness of  his  nature,  against  which  Mr.  Clay's  generous 
heart  was  far  from  being  proof.  The  ingenuousness  of 
Mr.  Calhoun's  disposition  was  ever  apparent,  and  the  fact 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  291 

that  he  always  possessed  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his 
opponents,  is  unanswerable  evidence  of  his  uprightness 
and  integrity.  If  the  machinations  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 
were  the  cause  of  the  exile  of  Mr.  Calhoun  from  the 
ranks  of  the  Democracy,  the  former  knows  now  the  full 
extent  of  the  injury  he  has  inflicted  upon  the  latter  ;  as 
experience  alone,  it  is  said,  can  make  one  realize  the 
discomfort,  pain,  and  sufferings,  of  being  thus  a  wanderer 
from  the  bosom  of  his  party. 


292  A  HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

CAMPAIGN     OF    1840. HARRISON    AND     AVAILABILITY.  —  TYLER    VICE- 
PRESIDENT.  —  DEATH     OF    HARRISON,    AND    TYLER'S    PRESIDENCY.  — 

RESIGNATION     OF    THE     CABINET. SUB-TREASURY,      UNITED      STATES 

BANK,   AND   TARIFF   OF   1842. —  WEBSTER,    SECRETARY   OF    STATE,   RE- 
TAINS  HIS   SEAT   TILL  1842. — TREATY   OF   WASHINGTON,    ETC.,   ETC. 

THE  presidential  campaign  of  1840  was  a  noted  one. 
William  Henry  Harrison,  whose  character  and  history 
are  well  known,  was  elected  over  Martin  Yan  Buren  by 
an  overwhelming-  majority.  The  election  of  General 
Harrison  was,  however,  a  gross  mistake,  and  led  to  the 
ruin  of  the  Whig  party.  Had  Clay  or  Webster  been 
nominated,  either  would  have  been  elected,  and  Whig 
principles  would  have  been  so  firmly  established  as  to 
secure  their  permanent  ascendency.  But,  as  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Whig  party,  for  the  last  few  years,  had 
begun  to  look  promising,  many  naturally  rallied  under 
its  standard  who  had  more  regard  for  place  than  for 
political  principles.  Such  are  ever  the  advocates  of 
availability.  The  principle  of  availability  was  adopted 
in  the  nomination  of  the  hero  of  North  Bend. 

The  nomination  of  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  was  an  act 
of  injustice  to  such  statesmen  as  Clay  and  Webster. 
They  were,  it  may  be  said,  the  founders  of  the  Whig 
party.  From  its  first  dawnings  they  had  been  its 
champions,  and  had  been  faithful  to  its  principles  and 
fortunes  in  its  darkest  days  of  adversity.  To  the 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  293 

eloquence  and  devotion  of  those  eminent  statesmen 
was  the  Whig  party  finally  indebted  for  its  triumph 
in  1840  ;  and,  as  its  prospects  brightened,  it  was  unfair 
and  unmanly  to  thrust  them  aside  for  some  leader  whose 
election  would  be  less  a  test  of  the  popularity  of  polit- 
ical principles  than  of  the  nominee.  A  party  that  thus 
conducts  offers  but  little  encouragement  to  its  talented 
members  for  devotion  to  its  cause.  It  cannot  be  called 
a  party  of  principle.  It  is  a  party,  it  is  true  ;  but  a 
party  whose  main  and  controlling  object  is  too  apparent 
to  entitle  it  to  the  confidence  of  an  honest  people.  If 
the  principles  of  a  party  are  vital  and  dear  to  it,  its 
able,  tried,  and  faithful  champions  should  be  placed  at 
its  head,  and  there  kept.  With  the  triumph  of  those 
principles  which  their  champions  have  enforced  upon 
a  doubting  and  distrusting  people,  the  champions  them- 
selves should  triumph  ;  and  a  party  taking  any  other 
rule  for  its  guidance,  or  resorting  to  other  means  of 
success  than  an  unshaken  reliance  in  its  principles, 
deserves  to  be  overthrown.  General  Harrison  was  an 
estimable  man,  and  received  votes  that,  perhaps,  would 
have  been  cast  neither  for  Clay,  Webster,  nor  Van 
Buren,  and  was  elected  as  the  opponent  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  But  the  Jackson  Van  Buren  dynasty 
had  become  unpopular.  The  unsoundness  of  the  Van 
Buren  policy  had  been  demonstrated,  and  the  people 
—  the  honest  masses  —  had  passed  sentence  of  con- 
demnation upon  the  sage  of  Lindenwold.  His  over- 
throw was  by  a  popular  whirlwind.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  previous  exploits  of  General  Harrison  to  charm 
people  from  a  sense  of  propriety,  but  enough  in  the 
blunders  of  Van  Buren  to  drive  a  nation  distracted. 
Clay  and  Webster  everywhere  advocated  the  election 


294  A    HISTORY    OF 

of  Harrison,  and  were  received  by  the  masses  of  the 
people,  with  unbounded  enthusiasm,  as  the  exponents 
of  correct  political  principles  ;  and  either  of  these  gentle- 
men might  have  been  run  against  Martin  Van  Buren 
with  entire  safety.  But  the  Whig  party  had  become 
too  anxious  for  success,  for  the  mere  sake  of  success. 

There  is  a  certain  limit  within  which  a  party,  in 
making  its  nominations,  may  have  regard  to  availabil- 
ity ;  but  when  this  principle  is  made  to  slight  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  the  party,  and  sacrifice  those  who 
have  been  its  honest  and  faithful  exponents,  it  can 
bring  nothing  but  destruction  in  its  train.  In  nominat- 
ing General  Harrison,  the  feverish  Whigs  imitated  their 
Democratic  opponents  in  nominating  General  Jackson. 
The  election  of  Jackson  was  a  sacrifice  of  the  ablest 
statesmen  in  the  Democratic  party,  and  hence  the  over- 
throw of  that  party,  in  1840,  and  its  subsequent  precari- 
ous existence.  When  Jackson  was  first  offered  for  the 
presidency,  the  Democracy  was  so  powerfully  in  the 
ascendant  that  their  opponents,  the  Federalists,  scarcely 
pretended  to  make  any  opposition  at  the  presidential 
elections.  The  Federal  party,  as  it  was  then  called, 
was  almost  entirely  exterminated.  By  keeping  their 
statesmen  at  the  head  of  their  party,  the  Democrats 
might  have  preserved  their  ascendency,  unimpaired,  for 
years  ;  but  the  new  dynasty  carved  out  by  Van  Buren, 
with  the  sword  of  Jackson,  brought  upon  that  party 
the  calamity  of  1840,  —  yes,  and  the  disgrace  of  1848  ! 
Unwisely,  the  Whigs,  in  1840,  followed  an  example 
that  was  destructive  to  them,  and  in  twelve  years  their 
name  was  only  known  in  history  I 

The  election  of  General  Harrison  was  providentially 
unfortunate  to  the  Whigs.  His  death,  taking  place 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  295 

• 
soon  after  his  inauguration,  threw  the    administration 

into  the  hands  of  the  Vice-President,  John  Tyler,  who 
soon  found  himself  at  war  with  the  Whig  party.  In 
the  nomination  of  the  Vice-President,  also,  availability 
had  been  studied,  and  the  result  was  that,  in  about  a 
month  from  the  inauguration  of  President  Harrison,  a 
Democratic  President  was  at  the  head  of  government. 
The  Democracy  of  Mr.  Tyler,  however,  was  not  so 
radical  as  that  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  In  many  things  his 
administration  was  favorable  to  Whig  policy  ;  but  on 
the  currency  measures  he  entertained  views  hostile 
to  those  of  the  Whig  party.  His  vetoes  of  United 
States  Bank  and  Fiscal  Agent  bills  made  disturbance 
enough.  The  Whigs  denounced  him.  The  cabinet 
constructed  by  General  Harrison,  with  the  exception 
of  Webster,  all  resigned,  and  the  administration  thence- 
forth was  a  mongrel  concern. 

On  the  election  of  General  Harrison,  he  called  Mr. 
Webster  to  the  head  of  his  cabinet,  in  the  formation 
of  which  he  took  his  advice  ;  and  Mr.  Webster  did  not 
immediately  resign  his  place  in  Mr.  Tyler's  cabinet, 
although,  perhaps,  he  would  have  done  so  if  he  had 
been  more  devoted  to  the  fortunes  of  the  party  than  to 
the  interests  of  the  country.  His  position  was  not  like 
that  of  the  other  members  of  the  cabinet.  He  was,  of 
course,  disappointed  at  the  course  taken  by  the  Pres- 
ident, in  relation  to  the  currency  measures,  and  did, 
after  about  two  years'  service  in  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State,  resign  his  place  ;  but  the  event  showed  that 
an  immediate  resignation  would  have  been  a  sacrifice 
of  the  highest  interests  of  the  country.  The  country 
was  at  the  time  on  the  verge  of  war  with  England. 
The  controversy  in  regard  to  the  North-East  Boundary 
26 


29 G  A   HISTORY   OF 

had  existed  from  the  establishment  of  Independence, 
and,  at  the  time  in  question,  was  threatening  an  issue 
in  war.  All  remember  the  fearful  excitement  existing 
in  Maine,  and  upon  the  Canadian  frontier,  where  the  in- 
habitants of  the  two  countries  were  menacing  each 
other  with  arms.  To  add  to  the  excitement  and  danger 
of  the  moment,  the  controversies  growing  out  of  the 
Canadian  rebellion  were  then  pending,  and  McLeod,  a 
soldier  engaged  in  the  Caroline  affair,  was  at  the  time 
imprisoned  in  the  state  of  New  York  :  England,  also,  in 
her  philanthropic  zeal  to  stop  the  slave-trade,  as  usual, 
had  taken  the  liberty  of  overhauling  some  of  our  mer- 
chant vessels  upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  for  which  this 
country  was  disposed  to  have  redress.  The  manner 
in  which  Mr.  Webster  effected  an  adjustment  of  all 
these  difficulties,  by  the  celebrated  treaty  of  Washing- 
ton, is  well  known.  The  settlement  of  the  boundary 
question  was  itself  a  proud  achievement  in  diplomacy. 
Mr.  Webster's  papers  on  the  subjects  of  the  Caroline  ; 
McLeod's  imprisonment ;  the  right  of  search  or  visit ; 
the  Mexican  difficulty ;  the  practice  of  impressment,  etc., 
are  the  most  masterly  expositions  of  the  laws  of  nations, 
upon  the  topics  involved  in  those  subjects,  to  be  found 
in  any  language.  The  principles  laid  down  in  those 
papers  are  now  looked  upon,  by  statesmen  of  all  parties, 
as  authorities,  and  as  such  are  quoted  upon  all  suitable 
occasions. 

Although  the  Whigs,  during  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Tyler,  were  unable  to  establish  a  United  States 
Bank,  they  were  successful  in  passing  a  protective  tariff, 
which  has  since  been  much  talked  of  as  the  tariff  of 
1842  ;  and  they  repealed  the  sub-treasury  act.  The 
tariff  act  of  1842  was  immediately  felt.  Under  Mr.  Van 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  297 

Buren's  administration  the  excessive  importations  con- 
tinued until  the  country  was  prevented  from  the  pur- 
chase of  foreign  goods  by  almost  universal  bankruptcy. 
The  propriety  of  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Tyler's  cabi- 
net, on  his  ^refusal  to  sanction  the  enactment  of  a  bank 
charter,  was  much  doubted  by  some  of  the  ablest  mem- 
bers of  the  Whig  party.  By  that  resignation  there  was 
no  prospect  of  effecting  anything,  saving  what  might 
be  accomplished  for  the  service  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
it  is  not  correct  for  persons  in  official  stations  to  de- 
termine on  their  course  of  action  wholly  with  regard  to 
party  effect.  Those  members  of  the  cabinet  were  men 
of  the  highest  standing  for  ability  and  worth,  and  acted, 
no  doubt,  from  honorable  impulses ;  but  still  it  seems 
as  though  the  interests  of  the  country  lost  more  than 
they  gained  by  the  course  pursued. 


298  A   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

CAMPAIGN  OP  1844.  —  HENRY  CLAY  AND   JAMES  K.  POLK.  —  ANNEXATION 

OF  TEXAS. FOLK'S   ELECTION. FREESOIL    CANDIDATES. INTEREST 

OF  ENGLAND  IN  FOLK'S  ELECTION.  —  TARIFF  OF  1842  REPEALED.  — 
TARIFF  OF  1846.  —  MEXICAN  WAR  THE  GREAT  MEASURE  OF  FOLK'S  AD- 
MINISTRATION.   CREDIT  GAINED  BY  WHIG  GENERALS  RECONCILED 

THE   WHIG    PARTY   TO  THE  WAR. GENERAL   TAYLOR   POPULAR   WITH 

THE  DEMOCRACY.  — AVAILABILITY  AGAIN  TRIED. — POLITICAL  PRINCI- 
PLES BY  WHIGS  BUT  LITTLE  MOOTED. THE  ABOLITION  SPIRIT  AROUSED. 

—  VAN  BUREN  THE  ABOLITION  CANDIDATE  IN  1848.  — CASS  DEMOCRATIC 

CANDIDATE. THE     FREESOILERS    PUZZLED,    BUT   VAN   BUREN    GETS   A 

LARGE  VOTE. TAYLOR  ELECTED. MILLARD  FILLMORE  VICE-PRESI- 
DENT. —TAYLOR'S  DEATH. FILLMORE  PRESIDENT. W.  H.  SEWARD. 

HIS  ONLY  HOPES    FOR    REACHING    THE   PRESIDENCY    THROUGH   THE 

TRIUMPH  OF  SECTIONALISM. — INCREASE  OF  FREESOILISM,  ETC. 

HENRY  CLAY  was  the  Whig  candidate  in  1844,  and 
was  defeated  by  James  K.  Polk.  The  campaign  was  a 
severe  one,  and  the  contest  close.  Mr.  Clay  received 
a  very  large  minority  of  the  popular  vote,  and  was  not 
defeated  by  fair  means.  His  support  was  almost  en- 
tirely native  American,  as  one  of  the  measures  he  pro- 
posed to  the  people  during  the  canvass  was  an  altera- 
tion of  our  naturalization  laws,  requiring  foreigners  to 
reside  in  this  country  twenty-one  years  before  being 
permitted  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  voting.  The  multi- 
plication of  Democratic  voters  in  the  city  of  New  York 
during  that  campaign,  by  fraudulent  naturalizations, 
was  said  to  have  been  beyond  precedent.  It  was  sup- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  299 

posed  that  without  such  naturalizations  Mr.  Clay  would 
have  been  elected.  Mr.  Clay  was  also  opposed  to  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  and  so  announced  himself;  in  con- 
sequence of  which  he  lost  much  support  in  all  parts  of 
the  country.  The  annexation  of  Texas  was  a  favorite 
measure  with  many  portions  of  the  South,  and  was  de- 
sired by  large  classes  in  the  North.  In  a  commercial 
point  of  view  the  annexation  was  highly  beneficial  to 
the  North;  and  the  measure  was  of  course  espoused 
with  great  zeal  by  the  thousands  of  influential  people 
of  all  parties  who  were  owners  of  what  was  called  Texas 
script,  —  a  species  of  property  that  annexation  would 
render  valuable.  The  candidate  of  the  Freesoilers,  Mr. 
James  G.  Birney,  took  votes  enough  of  those  who  pro- 
fessed opposition  to  annexation,  to  have  elected  Mr. 
Clay  ;  but  those  professed  Freesoilers  were  mostly  very 
devout  men,  and  had  many  objections  to  Mr.  Clay.  He 
had  fought  one  or  two  duels,  and  was,  moreover,  a  slave- 
holder. By  voting  for  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Polk  and  annexa- 
tion might  have  been  defeated  ;  but  the  inexorable  morals 
of  the  Freesoilers  would  not  permit  them  to  do  evil  that 
good  might  come  of  it.  Although  the  same  pious  men 
were  afterwards,  by  some  unaccountable  subtlety  of  the 
enemy,  trepanned  into  the  support  of  Fremont,  they 
were  not  caught  with  their  eyes  shut  in  1844.  At  that 
day  the  Freesoilers  were  not  a  party  ;  they  constituted 
a  faction  of  voters,  and  might,  had  not  their  consciences 
been  too  tender,  have  defeated  what  they  have  ever 
been  loud  in  proclaiming  one  of  the  most  unholy  acts 
of  the  slavery  oligarchy.  No  one  doubts  but  that  the 
Mexican  war  would  have  been  avoided  had  Mr.  Clay 
been  elected  President  instead  of  Mr.  Polk  ;  but  here, 
perhaps,  God  was  wiser  than  man,  and  subsequent 
2G* 


300  A    HISTORY    OF 

events  seem  to  indicate  that  the  fanaticism  of  the  Free- 
soilers  was  providential,  and  intended  as  an  instrument- 
ality for  the  development  of  the  mission  of  America. 

Another  powerful  influence  brought  to  bear  against 
the  election  of  Mr.  Clay  was  British  gold.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  disbursements  in  this  country  for  elec- 
tioneering purposes  from  the  British  secret-service  fund, 
the  merchants  and  manufacturers  in  England  openly 
subscribed  money  to  be  employed  in  effecting  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Polk.  The  tariff  of  1842  had  checked  the 
excess  of  importations  of  British  fabrics,  and  a  change 
of  administration  was  necessary  for  the  prosperity  of 
English  trade.  The  party  which  had  nominated  Mr. 
Polk  professed  to  be  in  favor  of  free  trade,  and  the  mer- 
chants and  manufacturers  of  England  knew  well  enough 
what  the  policy  of  the  United  States  would  be  under 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Clay.  It  was  well  known 
that  British  gold  was  freely  made  use  of  during  the 
political  campaign  of  1844.  But  so  powerful  was  the 
impression,  on  the  minds  of  the  mass  of  the  American 
people,  that  the  principles  of  the  Whigs  were  indispen- 
sable for  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  that  a  herculean 
effort  was  necessary  to  defeat  their  candidate.  The 
struggle  was  fierce,  and  the  efforts  of  the  combined  en- 
emies of  the  Whig  party  were  desperate.  Tylerism 
had  stripped  the  vantage  ground  attained  by  the  Whigs 
in  1840  of  all  its  value.  Had  the  administration  from 
1840  been  a  sound  Whig  administration,  the  defeat  of 
that  party  in  1844  would  not  have  occurred  ;  and,  as  it 
was,  if  the  Whigs  had  received  fair  play  in  that  cam- 
paign, Mr.  Clay  would  have  been  elected,  and  Whig 
policy  become  firmly  established  in  the  country.  This 
is  clearly  apparent  from  the  popular  vote  at  the  elections 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  301 

of  1840  and  1848,  at  each  of  which  the  Whig  candidate 
received  a  majority.  But  the  defeat  in  1844  was  in  a 
great  measure  to  be  attributed  to  the  ill-advised  nomi- 
nation of  an  available  candidate  in  1840  ;  and  the  repe- 
tition of  that  foolish  policy,  in  1848,  had  a  powerful  ten- 
dency to  bring  about  the  annihilation  of  the  Whig  party, 
which  soon  after  ensued. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Polk  was  Democratic. 
Texas  was  annexed.  The  greatest  objection  that  can 
be  made  to  the  admission  of  that  promising  sister  is  as 
to  the  manner.  It  was  thought  by  the  Whigs  that  the 
movement  was  premature.  The  courtship  was  consid- 
ered too  short.  The  fact  is,  some  ardent  lovers  of  the 
fair  one  proposed  the  union  before  her  consent  had 
been  obtained  !  The  question  of  annexation,  the  Whigs 
thought,  was  pressed  forward  too  rashly.  The  Whigs 
contended  that  the  only  constitutional  method  of  acquir- 
ing new  territory  was  by  treaty.  But  as  eveiy  treaty 
made  by  the  President  requires  the  approval  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  Senate,  it  was  found  that  the  annexation 
scheme  could  not,  through  the  exercise  of  the  treaty- 
making  power,  be  consummated.  The  result  was  that 
the  admission  of  Texas  was  proposed  and  carried  by  a 
joint  resolution  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress.  The 
Whigs  opposed  this  method  of  procedure  as  unconsti- 
tutional. This  opposition  was  not  factious  or  sectional. 
The  Whig  party  was  ever  a  national  party.  About 
every  Whig  senator  from  the  slave  states  voted  against 
the  act  of  annexation ;  but  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk 
had  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  the  Whigs  to  defeat  the 
measure  by  veto. 

The  tariff  of  1842  was  repealed,  and  its  place  supplied 
by  the  act  of  1846,  which  is  a  revenue  tariff',  affording 


302  A   HISTORY    OF 

but  slight  if  any  protection  to  the  great  branches  of 
American  industry.  The  sub-treasury  act  was  also  re- 
enacted,  and  the  country  placed  under  the  commercial 
and  revenue  system  wrought  out  by  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
and  has  thus  remained  for  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years. 
Had  not  Heaven,  in  its  mercy,  given  us  the  hundreds 
of  millions  of  gold  from  the  gulches  of  California,  in  what 
condition  should  we  now,  under  the  operations  of  that 
anti-American  system,  find  ourselves  ?  The  excess,  the 
monstrous  excess  of  our  importations  indicates.  Figures 
are  reliable  things.  Bankruptcy  may  have  been  avoided ; 
but  our  commercial  system  has  given  Europe  the  great 
profits  of  our  mines,  and  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years 
we  shall  find  ourselves,  unless  our  policy  be  changed, 
divested  of  our  gold,  and  in  a  state  of  helplessness. 

The  Mexican  war  was  the  great  event  or  measure  of 
Mr.  Folk's  adminstration.  We  will  not  stop  to  examine 
the  steps  that  led  to  that  war.  It  was  the  perhaps 
necessary  result  of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  acquisition  of  California,  and  the  territory 
of  New  Mexico.  The  administration  of  Mr.  Polk  will 
ever  be  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  country  for 
having  given  occasion  for  the  great  clamor  about  South- 
ern aggression.  Not  that  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and 
the  consequent  acquisition  of  new  territory,  were  accom- 
plished by  the  South  alone  ;  but  as  the  annexation  pol- 
icy was  regarded  beneficial  to  the  extension  of  slavery, 
the  measure  was  charged  to  Southern  machinations.  It 
was  immediately  seen,  by  the  Freesoilers  of  the  North, 
that  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay  was  a  great  mistake,  and 
the  prodigious  events  of  Mr.  Folk's  administration  gave 
new  life  to  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  free  states. 
While  the  Mexican  war  was  on  our  hands,  the  much 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  303 

talked  of  Wilmot  proviso  doctrine  took  its  rise  \  o~ 
rather  an  old  doctrine  took  a  new  start  under  that  new 
name.  The  annexation  of  Texas,  the  stirring  events 
of  the  Mexican  war,  and  the  acquisition  of  California 
and  New  Mexico,  all  transpired  so  suddenly  that  the 
enemies  of  these  measures  had  hardly  a  chance  to  utter 
their  protestations  before  they  were  accomplished.  Ac- 
cording to  Whig  principles,  the  annexation  was  uncon- 
stitutional, and  the  commencement  of  the  war  with 
Mexico  an  outrage  upon  that  republic  ;  but  the  brilliant 
manner  in  which  that  war  was  conducted  by  two  favor- 
ite Whig  generals  reconciled  the  party,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  those  proceedings.  The  administration 
was  annoyed  at  the  credit  accruing  to  Generals  Taylor 
and  Scott,  and  the  Whigs  were  evidently  elated.  Out- 
cries and  invectives  against  the  war  soon  ceased  to  be 
heard  in  the  Whig  ranks,  and,  at  the  close  of  Folk's 
presidential  term,  the  real  issue  between  the  two  parties 
was  not  so  apparent.  The  old  and  long-continued  dis- 
cussions in  regard  to  administrative  measures  had,  in  a 
great  degree,  subsided,  and  the  Whig  party,  almost 
with  one  mind,  were  disposed  to  resort  to  the  principle 
of  availability  for  another  party  triumph.  General 
Taylor,  long  prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  National 
Convention,  was  announced  by  Whigs,  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  as  the  next  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
He  was  no  statesman,  and  had  no  acquaintance  with 
civil  affairs.  lie-  was  a  man  of  moderate  abilities,  a 
skilful  arid  brave  general,  and  an  upright  and  honorable 
man.  But  he  was  no  more  suitable  for  the  presidency 
than  had  been  Jackson  or  Harrison ;  and,  but  for  one 
or  two  splendid  victories  in  Mexico,  he  would  never 
have  been  thought  of  as  a  candidate  for  that  office. 


304  A   HISTOEY   OF 

However,  there  were  many  reasons  why  he  might  be 
considered  an  available  candidate.  The  war  was  vastly 
popular  with  the  Democracy,  and  his  good  services  had 
endeared  him  to  large  numbers  of  the  Democratic  party. 
The  expression  was  often  made  by  Democrats  that,  if 
'General  Taylor  should  be  nominated,  they  would  not 
vote  against  him ;  and  many  promised,  in  such  an 
event,  to  give  him  their  votes.  As  much  support 
was  expected  from  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  it  was  not 
prudent  for  Whigs,  in  their  campaign,  to  make  any 
unnecessary  parade  of  their  political  principles.  It  was 
calculated  that  the  general's  military  exploits  would 
advocate  his  cause,  and  go  further  in  softening  and 
subduing  the  hearts  of  political  adversaries  than  any 
amount  of  electioneering  about  the  principles  of  trade 
and  currency. 

The  nomination  of  General  Taylor,  however,  and  the 
campaign  that  elected  him,  disclosed  in  the  Whig  party 
elements  that  bespoke  its  speedy  dissolution.  If  Texas, 
New  Mexico,  and  California,  had  been  solid  masses  of 
guano,  and  had  been  placed  upon  the  root  of  Freesoilism 
in  the  free  states,  they  would  not  have  proved  richer 
and  more  active  fertilizers  of  that  noxious  plant  than 
were  the  proceedings  of  the  administration  in  acquiring 
those  territories.  The  outcry  of  "  Southern  aggression" 
rang  through  the  North.  Nothing  else  was,  or  has 
since,  been  talked  of.  The  anti-slavery  feeling  was 
greatly  excited,  and  many  were  forced  reluctantly  to 
vote  for  General  Taylor  as  the  least,  as  they  considered 
it,  of  three  evils.  His  opponents  were  General  Cass 
and  Martin  Van  Buren.  As  for  Cass,  no  Whig  of  those 
days  could  vote  for  him,  as  he  was  regarded  quite 
unsound  on  the  slavery  question.  Was  Van  Buren 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  305 

preferable  to  General  Taylor?  Strange  enough,  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  the  Freesoil  candidate,  and  supported 
by  the  Freesoilers  of  the  North  !  But  the  imagined 
change  in  the  sentiments  of  that  gentleman,  in  regard 
to  slavery,  struck  the  Whigs  aghast.  His  political  life, 
and  his  administration,  his  ultra  pro-slavery  administra- 
tion, as  it  had  been  designated,  were  fresh  in  the  recol- 
lections of  all.  He  had  either  styled  himself,  or  had 
by  his  friends  been  styled,  a  Northern  man  with  South- 
ern principles,  and,  while  President,  had,  with  the 
whole  power  of  his  station,  done  his  utmost  to  crush 
out  Freesoilism  ;  but,  nevertheless,  in  1848,  he  was 
nominated,  at  the  somewhat  celebrated  Buffalo  Conven- 
tion, as  the  Freesoil  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
The  vote  thrown  for  him  shows  how  profoundly  the 
Northern  mind  had  been  stirred  on  the  question  of 
slavery  during  Mr.  Folk's  administration.  It  was  hard 
for  old  Whigs  to  support  Mr.  Van  Buren  ;  but  thousands 
did  so.  General  Cass,  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic 
party,  was  well  known  for  his  heresy  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  so  that  between  the  champion  of  squatter 
sovereignty,  the  conservatism  of  the  slave-owning 
Whig  candidate,  and  the  pretended  Freesoil  convert, 
Van  Buren,  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  North  was 
puzzled  to  choose.  It  was  but  late  in  the  campaign, 
and  with  much  difficulty,  that  some  influential  Whig 
editors  could  be  induced  to  give  in  their  adhesion  to 
General  Taylor  ;  and,  although  the  general  was  elected, 
the  result  of  the  ballotings  was  somewhat  singular  and 
prophetic.  The  two  strong  Whig  states,  for  instance,  of 
Massachusetts  and  Vermont,  elected  Taylor  electors  only 
by  pluralities.  In  other  Northern  States  Mr.  Van  Buren 
had  received  quite  large  votes.  It  will  be  recollected 


306  A   HISTORY   OF 

that  there  was  not  perfect  harmony  in  the  national  con- 
vention that  nominated  General  Taylor.  The  Freesoil 
sentiment  was  quite  powerful,  although  conservatism 
prevailed.  So  it  seems  that  conservatism  triumphed 
amongst  the  people  ;  but  that  triumph,  it  should  be 
remarked  and  recollected,  was  more  owing  to  the  pecu- 
liar character  of  the  Freesoil  nominee  than  to  the  battle 
of  Buena  Vista. 

The  elevation  of  Zachary  Taylor  to  the  presidency 
was  attended  with  the  election  of  Millard  Fillmore,  of 
New  York,  Vice-President.  The  events  of  that  admin- 
istration are  too  recent  to  require  mention.  President 
Taylor  died  soon  after  his  inauguration,  to  wit,  on  the 
9th  day  of  July,  by  which  event  Mr.  Fillmore  became 
President  of  the  United  States.  It  was  necessary  for 
Mr.  Fillmore  to  change  his  cabinet,  and  make  many 
changes  of  office-holders  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
These  changes  at  the  time  were  the  occasion  of  much 
outcry  against  him  by  a  large  section  of  the  Whig 
party,  and  were  symptoms  of  a  schism  which  finally 
involved  the  party  in  ruin.  In  accounting  for  the 
course  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  we  can  only  revert  to  the  cir- 
cumstances and  impressions  of  those  times. 

The  history  of  not  a  very  aged  politician,  W.  H. 
Seward,  is  pretty  familiar  to  the  generality  of  Americans. 
He  was  born  in  1801,  and  is  now  less  than  sixty  years 
of  age.  His  father  was  a  firm  Democrat  of  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  school,  and  Mr.  Seward  was  himself  of  the  same 
politics  until  the  revolution  in  Democratic  measures, 
undertaken  by  the  elevation  of  General  Jackson.  At 
that  period,  about  1828,  Mr.  Seward  attached  himself 
to  the  Whig  party.  Possessing  an  ambitious  spirit, 
and  wielding  a  somewhat  vigorous  pen,  he  soon  made 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  307 

himself  prominent  in  his  new  position.  His  writings 
are  well  known.  As  to  the  elegance  arid  perspicuity 
of  his  style  not  many  will  disagree.  He  is  principally 
characterized  for  a  speculative  turn  of  thought,  and 
is  very  pleasing  to  those  who  suffer  themselves  to  be 
floated  along  in  the  current  of  his  speculations.  But  to 
those  who  are  accustomed  to  analyze  and  weigh  a 
writer's  positions  before  giving  them  acceptance,  Mr. 
Sewaud's  productions  are  more  regarded  and  admired 
for  their  originality  and  ingenuity,  than  for  their  depth 
and  soundness.  His  organization  is  not  that  of  a 
statesman.  No  man  can  be  a  safe  counsellor  for  the 
state  whose  mental  and  moral  constitution  is  such  as 
to  render  facts,  in  his  deliberations,  subordinate  to 
theory.  The  statesman  should  avail  himself  of  the  aids 
of  the  theologian,  the  philosopher,  and  the  casuist ;  but 
he  should  be  neither.  If  a  theologian,  his  sect  will, 
unquestioned,  accept  his  views,  which  others  might 
disregard.  If  a  philosopher,  one  school  might  admire, 
while  another  would  denounce,  his  positions.  Perhaps 
Mr.  Seward  has  shown  himself  more  of  a  philosopher 
and  sectarian  than  a  statesman,  and,  as  the  result,  his 
political  opinions  are  only  acceptable  to  a  particular 
class  of  a  single  section  of  the  country.  His  system 
of  state  policy,  which  he  thinks  would  benefit  one  part 
of  the  country,  would  involve  another  in  blood  and 
desolation. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Seward  was  a  consistent  con- 
servative Whig,  and  supported  such  men  as  Clay  and 
Harrison  for  the  presidency.  His  first  public  life  com- 
menced in  1830,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of 
his  native  state.  In  this  election  he  was  aided  by  the 
anti-masonic  spirit,  which  was  at  that  time  quite  active. 
27 


308  A  HISTORY   OF 

Later,  in  1837,  and  also  in  1839,  he  was  elected  Gover- 
nor of  New  York  ;  and,  in  1849,  was,  by  the  New  York 
Legislature,  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  to 
that  station  was  reflected  in  1855.  For  some  years 
past,  Mr.  Seward  has  been  noted  for  his  strong  anti- 
slavery  principles  and  feelings.  Many  of  the  leading 
Whigs,  especially  those  who  have  sympathized  with 
him  in  his  views  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  have  been 
desirous  of  his  nomination  for  the  presidency.  That 
Mr.  Seward  has  partaken  of  that  desire  has  been 
quite  apparent.  There  has  been  to  his  eyes  no  reason 
why  he  might  not  aspire  to  a  station  which  the  influence 
of  his  native  state  was  mainly  instrumental  in  filling 
with  Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  favorite  of  that  mighty  state 
has  no  occasion  to  blush  for  his  ambition  for  presiden- 
tial honors.  Mr.  Seward  led  in  the  van  of  the  party 
that  overthrew  Van  Bureriism  in  New  York,  and  why 
not  himself  aspire  to  the  fortunes  which  the  influence 
of  that  state  has  been  able  to  open  to  her  sons  ?  But 
the  admirers  and  followers  of  that  gentleman,  although 
a  controlling  portion  of  the  late  Whig  party,  never  saw 
a  time  when  they  supposed  they  could  present  his 
name  for  nomination  with  any  prospect  of  success. 
His  great  theme  has  been  anti-slavery  for  many  years. 
On  account  of  his  ultra  and  impracticable  notions  about 
negroes,  Mr.  Seward  has  been  able  to  count  on  no 
supporters  at  all  in  the  slave  states,  and  reliably  upon 
none  but  the  abolitionists  in  the  North.  For  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  presidency  there  seems  no  hope  while  the 
states  remain  united.  If  all  the  free  states  could  be 
brought  to  act  sectionally,  and  unite  on  a  candidate, 
perhaps  the  slavery  issue  might  open  the  way  to  the 
presidency  for  Mr.  Seward  ;  or,  if  there  should  be 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  309 

a  separation  of  states,  in  consequence  of  the  slavery 
question,  Mr.  Seward,  of  course,  would  be  the  control- 
ling genius  of  the  Northern  republic,  and  his  prominent 
friends  would  be  placed  in  all  its  principal  offices. 
For  a  few  years  past  the  South  have  looked  upon  Mr. 
Seward  as  Mr.  Calhoun  was  sometimes,  in  his  latter 
days,  regarded  by  the  North.  Some  of  our  Northern 
people  thought  that  in  case  of  a  Southern  republic,  Mr. 
Calhoun  saw  the  prospect  for  station  and  honors  which 
the  Union  absolutely  barred  from  his  reach.  lie  had 
made  himself  sectional,  it  was  said,  and  forever  forfeited 
all  confidence  of  an  entire  portion  of  the  country.  Al- 
though many  think  that  Mr.  Seward's  course  has  a 
powerful  tendency  to  produce  disunion,  perhaps  it  is 
not  just  to  charge  him  with  such  intentions.  He  may 
have  hopes  of  elevation  by  means  short  of  the  creation 
of  a  Northern  republic.  If  he  can  produce  the  union 
of  the  free  states,  as  above  suggested  ;  if  he  can  bring 
the  non-slaveholding  states  to  a  united  action,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  his  favorite  hobby,  anti-slavery, 
he  may  yet  attain  the  summit  of  his  glory  in  the  Union. 
It  is  true,  such  an  achievement,  every  sound-minded 
man  must  say,  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  country  ;  but 
we  need  not  necessarily  conclude  that  Mr.  Seward  is 
of  this  opinion.  He  may  be  innocent  in  thinking  that 
the  presidential  elections  should  turn  on  the  slavery 
question  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  North  to  combine 
(they  being  the  largest  portion  of  the  country),  and 
take  the  United  States  government  into  their  own 
hands.  He  may  think  that  this  is  not  only  safe  for  the 
country,  but  likewise  just  and  expedient.  We  cannot 
pronounce  as  to  his  motives,  but,  as  to  his  judgment,  it 
is  not  only  our  right,  but  our  duty,  to  speak  our  opinion. 


310  A   HISTORY   OF 

Although  we  cannot  pronounce  Mr.  Scward  corrupt 
for  his  political  views,  we  may  be  permitted  to  say  that 
we  regard  him  and  his  course  exceedingly  dangerous  to 
the  Union.  Just  such  an  attempt  to  unite  the  free 
states  upon  a  sectional  candidate,  as  alluded  to,  was 
tried  by  his  friends  and  followers  in  1856,  and  the 
inauguration  speech  of  that  gentleman,  made  at  Albany, 
upon  the  occasion  of  instituting  the  Republican  party, 
in  1855,  is  still  ringing  in  the  ears  of  the  American  peo- 
ple. It  is  recollected  how  the  duties  of  the  North  were 
pointed  out  in  that  speech,  and  how  our  Southern  fellow- 
citizens  were  described.  Slaveholders,  Mr.  Scward 
labored  to  instruct  us,  are  a  privileged,  a  dangerous 
class,  whose  existence  in  our  government  must  be  dan- 
gerous to  free  institutions  ;  and  the  idea  was  impressed 
upon  us  that  the  people  of  the  North  should  cherish  or 
cultivate  jealous  feelings  in  regard  to  them.  The 
speech  is  spoken  of  from  recollection,  not  having  been 
seen  by  us  since  its  first  appearance  in  print ;  but  we 
can  never  forget  the  impression  it  made  at  the  time, 
and  cannot  well  mistake  its  purport.*  But  the  purity 

*  Since  the  above  was  written,  Mr.  Seward  has  arrested  public 
attention  by  his  ultra  positions  in  regard  to  the  slavery  question.  In 
his  speech  delivered  at  Rochester,  New  York,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
October,  he  deliberately  announced  that  "  either  the  cotton  and  rice 
fields  of  South  Carolina,  and  the  sugar  plantations  of  Louisiana,  will 
ultimately  be  tilled  by  free  labor,  and  Charleston  and  New  Orleans 
become  the  marts  for  legitimate  merchandise  alone,  or  else  the  rye- 
fields  and  wheat-fields  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  must  again  be 
sui-rendered  by  their  farmers  to  slave  culture  and  the  production  of 
slaves,  and  Boston  and  New  York  become  once  more  markets  for 
trade  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men." 

This  position  of  Mr.  Seward,  so  deliberately  taken,  and  worded 
with  such  clearness,  care  and  emphasis,  is  worthy  of  the  reader's 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  311 

of  the   conception  and  birth  of  that  Republican  party 
can  be  estimated  from  the  fact  that  its  first  candidate 

most  serious  reflection,  as  it  but  embodies  the  sentiment  of  vast 
numbers  of  Northern  people,  who  are  really  of  the  opinion  that  the 
South  are  endeavoring  to  extend  slavery  into  the  North.  There  was 
a  time  when  the  Freesoilers  of  the  North  professed  that  they  had  no 
desire  to  meddle  with  slavery  in  the  states  where  already  established  ; 
but  the  above  position  of  Mr.  Seward  would  indicate  that  he  is  the 
champion  of  universal  emancipation.  If  he  really  believes  that  the 
only  method  of  preserving  Massachusetts  and  New  York  from 
"  becoming  markets  for  trade  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men  "  is  by 
abolishing  slavery  in  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana,  can  we  doubt 
that  he  is,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  an  abolitionist?  If  not 
an  abolitionist,  why  does  he  so  forcibly  inculcate  opinions  and  senti- 
ments which  can  influence  to  nothing  but  the  most  radical  abolition- 
ism ?  Mr.  Seward,  it  must  be  recollected,  is  a  senator  of  one  of  the 
most  powerful  states  of  the  Union,  and  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  the 
leader  of  the  party  to  which  he  belongs.  There  is  nothing  novel  in 
his  language  ;  the  orators  and  editors  of  his  party  have  Continually*, 
for  several  years  past,  urged  upon  the  Northern  people  the  same 
views  and  sentiments.  The  more  intelligent  reader  may  say  that 
such  positions  as  those  alluded  to  are  absurd  ;  that  we  are  not  seri- 
ously to  believe  that  the  continuance  of  negro-servitude  in  the  South 
is  to  result  in  the  establishment  of  slavery  in  New  England.  But 
how  is  this  with  the  great  mass  of  the  Northern  people  ?  There  are 
millions  who  seriously  believe  that  they  must  exert  themselves,  or 
slavery  will  be  introduced  into  the  North  !  The  activity  of  the 
stump,  the  pre^s  and  the  pulpit,  for  a  fewyears  past,  in  misrepresent- 
ing the  objects,  efforts  and  characters,  of  Southern  people,  has  been 
marvellous.  There  is  no  ridiculous  pretence  which  a  political  mounte- 
bank can  attribute  to  a  slaveholder  that  will  not  find  ready  credence 
in  the  North.  And  it  is  to  the  stunted,  obtuse,  bigoted,  fanatical, 
ignorant,  jaundiced,  self-righteous  and  self-conceited  millions  of  such 
in  the  North  that  Mr.  Seward,  and  others  of  his  kidney,  address 
such  propositions  as  we  have  quoted  above.  It  is  not  expected  that 
they  will  make  any  impression  on  sane  and  intelligent  minds  ;  but 
the  empire  of  such  men  is  in  the  hearts  of  the  victims  of  fraud  and 
fanaticism.  When  such  language,  in  one  of  the  first  cities  in  the 
27* 


312  A   HISTORY    OF 

for  the  presidency  was  selected  solely  on  the  ground 
of  availability.  The  party  itself  was  sufficiently  ani- 
mated by  the  opinions  and  spirit  of  Seward,  and  was 
justly  regarded  as  an  organization  to  promote  the  anti- 
slavery  feelings  and  doctrines  of  the  North ;  but  the 
most  eloquent,  talented  and  long-tried  champions  of 
Freesoilism  were,  at  the  very  first  presidential  campaign, 
ignored,  and  a  talented  and  sprightly  young  Southern 
Democrat,  famous  for  anything  but  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
anti-slavery,  was  put  upon  the  track. 

The  acquiescence  of  the  leading  organs  and  mouth- 
pieces of  Mr.  Seward,  in  General  Taylor's  nomina- 
tion, had  not  been  cheerful  and  with  alacrity,  although 
their  support  was  finally  accorded  to  him.  As  Mr. 
Seward's  friends  represented  the  Freesoil  wing  of  the 
Whig  party,  their  support  of  Taylor  looked  like  a  sacri- 
fice ;  and,  on  the  general's  ascendency  to  the  presiden- 
tial chair,  he  was  made  aware  of  the  vast  importance  of 
recognizing  the  power  that  had  so  graciously  or  ungra- 
ciously made  him  President ;  and  the  result  was  that  in 
the  appointments  Mr.  Fillmore  had  but  little  voice  or 
influence.  If  this  was  so,  removals,  on  the  death  of 
President  Taylor,  would  become  quite  natural. 

But,  during  the  administration  of  Taylor  and  Fill- 
more,  Freesoilism  increased  rapidly  throughout  the 

North,  is  deliberately  put  forth  by  a  senator  of  the  United  States,  and 
is  hailed  as  a  grateful  and  worthy  speech,  by  millions  of  Northern 
people,  who  heartily  respond  to  every  word,  we  think  that  it  is  time 
for  the  patriot  —  the  true  lover  of  his  country  —  to  open  his  eyes. 
No  one,  with  the  dimmest  vision,  can  fail  to  see  to  what  such  political 
agitations  are  tending.  The  issue,  as  presented  by  the  above  extract 
from  Mr.  Seward 's  speech,  is  emphatically  and  essentially  a  disunion 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  313 

North.  It  was  the  duty  of  their  administrations  to 
frame  laws  for  the  new  territories  acquired  by  the  Mex- 
ican war,  and  to  receive  into  the  Union  California. 
The  subjects  connected  with  the  new  territories,  al- 
though the  fruits  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Polk, 
were  left  for  the  management  and  disposal  of  the  Whigs, 
and  were  the  cause  of  great  commotion  and  strife.  The 
Whig  party,  so  called,  had  triumphed  under  Taylor; 
but  it  stood  over  an  abyss.  The  old  party  issues  were 
fading  from  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  a  new  one  of 
fearful  omen  making  its  appearance.  A  glance  at  the 
steps  of  the  spirit  of  disorganization,  then  gnawing 
upon  the  vitals  of  the  Whig  party,  is  all  that  is  requi- 
site ;  the  history  is  pretty  minutely  familiar  to  all. 


314  A   HISTOKY   OP 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

CAMPAIGN    OF  1852  TUB   LAST  WHIG    CAMPAIGN.  —  CAUSES    OF    THE    RUIN 
OF   THE   WHIG    PARTY.  —  SLAVERY    ISSUE. — PBOPAGATION    OF   ANTI- 

SLAVERY   FEELINGS    IN    THE    NORTH.  HATRED    OF   SLAVERY  APPLIED 

TO    NEGRO     SERVITUDE    LY    THE    IGNORANT.  ALIENATION    OF    THE 

NORTH  FROM  THE  SOUTH.  —  FUGITIVE  LAWS"  OF  1793  AND  1850,  ETC. 

THE  campaign  of  1852  was  the  last  presidential  one 
that  saw  the  Whigs  in  the  field  as  a  national  party. 
After  an  existence  of  about  twenty-five  years,  that 
party  was  broken  up  and  dissolved  into  thin  air  by  the 
disorganizing  touch  of  fanaticism.  The  causes  that 
promoted  the  growth  of  this  fanaticism  have  been 
alluded  to.  To  secure  place,  to  enjoy  the  spoils  of 
office,  to  attain  honors  and  power,  political  parties  at 
length  seized  hold  of  the  jealousy  which  the  dissimi- 
larity of  the  institutions  of  two  great  sections  of  the 
country  have  given  rise  to,  and  made  it  the  basis  of 
party  action.  It  was  foreseen,  at  the  formation  of  our 
government,  that  slavery  was  to  be  the  rock  on  which 
our  institutions  were  to  wreck.  To  bring  our  national 
vessel  upon  this  rock  has  ever  been  the  aim  of  internal 
and  external  enemies,  and  already  she  has,  on  several 
occasions,  experienced  very  narrow  escapes  from  their 
efforts.  The  future  looks  discouraging.  Human  nature 
has  been  the  same  in  all  ages  of  the  world.  From  our 
knowledge  of  what  man  has  ever  been,  we  can  form  a 
tolerably  accurate  estimate  of  what  may  be  expected  of 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  315 

him  hereafter.  The  motives  and  passions  that  swayed 
him  two  thousand  years  ago  wift  influence  him  now ; 
and  we  rnay  rest  perfectly  assured  that  no  god  has 
yet  bestowed  on  him  that  wisdom,  and  prudence,  and 
self-constraint,  the  lack  of  which  ever  has  been  the 
cause  of  his  ruin  and  degradation.  Fanaticism,  of 
course,  is  a  species  of  madness.  It  has  been  the  ruin 
of  every  free  people  that  has  ever  existed.  When 
people  are  seized  with  a  peculiar  idea  that  takes  com- 
mand of  their  minds,  they  lose  their  reason,  and  can 
no  longer  act  with  prudence.  There  is  no  compromise 
with  a  fanatic  ;  he  is  a  monomaniac  ;  he  will  have  his 
insane  idea  gratified,  or  encounter  the  consequences. 
Ordinarily  the  result  has  been  the  ruin.of  the  madman. 
Centuries  ago  it  was  uttered  as  a  proverb,  Quern 
deus  vuU  perdere,  prius  dementat:  that  those  whom 
God  would  destroy,  he  first  renders  fanatical. 

The  last  presidential  election  saw  the  people  of  the 
United  States  divided  at  the  polls  upon  no  question  but 
that  of  slavery  !  The  patriotic  statesman  expressed 
himself  alarmed  at  such  a  spectacle,  to  be  laughed  at 
as  a  fool  by  those  who  constantly  pray  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Union  !  The  men  of  the  North  have  become 
too  pure  to  worship  and  vote  with  the  men  of  the  South. 
Is  it  strange  they  should  be  impatient  to  be  cut  entirely 
adrift  from  such  monsters  as  they  are  now  disposed  to 
think  slaveholders  to  be  ?  The  last  President  was 
elected  nearly  by  the  votes  of  a  section  of  the  country, 
although  belonging  to  a  different  section  from  the  one 
mainly  instrumental  in  his  election.  The  day  may  come 
when  our  elections  will  be  purely  sectional.  But  we 
have  no  disposition  to  speak  much  of  the  present  or 
future.  Our  chief  lessons  are  in  the  past. 


316  A   HISTORY   OF 

At  the  formation  of  our  Union,  the  whole  subject  of 
slavery,  as  our  worthy  Revolutionary  statesmen  and 
patriots  thought,  was  fully  and  finally  settled  by  the 
compromises  in  the  Constitution.  It  was  then  hoped 
that  that  fiend  of  discord  was  allayed  forever.  It  was 
early  declared  by  all  parts  of  the  country  that  what  was 
yielded  to  slaveholders  by  the  Constitution  they  should 
enjoy.  Quite  a  minority  in  the  North  are  willing  now 
that  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  should  be 
faithfully  observed.  As  this  was  the  general  feeling  of 
our  Northern  people  in  the  early  and  purer  days  of  our 
republic,  there  was  no  possible  chance  for  making  a 
party  question  out  of  slavery.  The  Constitution  cov- 
ered the  whole  ground.  There  was  no  point  at  which 
slavery  could  be  attacked  save  through  the  Constitution, 
and  the  people  of  those  days  had  a  sacred  regard  for 
that  instrument.  The  voice  of  the  British  agitator  was 
heard  in  America,  and  an  anti-slavery  sentiment  was 
awakened  in  the  hearts  of  thousands  ;  but  that  senti- 
ment never  found  vent  in  the  politics  of  the  country 
until  1820,  when  Missouri  was  admitted  as  a  state  into 
the  Union. 

At  the  achievement  of  our  independence,  at  the  close 
of  the  Revolutionary  war,  which  resulted  in  the  peace 
of  1783,  all  of  the  unoccupied  territories  in  the  confed- 
eration were  in  the  possession  of  the  Southern  States. 
The  great  North-western  Territory  then  belonged  to  Vir- 
ginia ;  and  soon  after  the  formation  of  the  Union,  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  gave  us  all  of  Texas ;  so  that, 
under  the  administrations  of  our  early  Presidents,  it  is 
apparent  that  there  could  have  been  but  little  made  by 
agitating  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  territories.  Vir- 
ginia, prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  ceded 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  317 

all  of  the  North-west  Territory  to  the  general  govern- 
ment, under  a  restriction  that  it  was  to  be  forever  ex- 
empt from  slavery.  Texas,  a  territory  purchased  with 
Louisiana  in  1803,  and  devoted  to  slavery  by  local  laws, 
was  by  Mr.  Monroe  ceded  away  in  1819,  thus  divesting 
the  South  of  wide  domains  well  adapted  to  their  institu- 
tions. Thus  far  the  South  had  made  no  aggressions  on 
the  North !  In  fact,  the  imperial  states  of  the  Great 
West  were  formed  from  territories  originally  belonging 
to  the  Southern  States  ;  and  it  was  not  until  Missouri 
asked  for  admission  that  the  religious  and  humane  feel- 
ing of  the  North  burst  forth  in  a  clamor  against  receiv- 
ing into  the  Union  any  more  slave  states.  No  leakage, 
no  crevasse,  however  slight,  is  safe  in  the  dike  that 
forms  a  barrier  to  long  pent  up  and  agitated  floods. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  barrenness  of  the  slave  con- 
troversy while  limited  to  constitutional  grounds,  the 
subject  of  slavery  has  never  ceased,  from  the  origin  of 
our  government  to  the  present  time,  to  be  a  constant 
theme  of  sermon,  prayer,  lecture,  alms,  or  anathema, 
amongst  the  masses  of  the  Northern  people.  The  old 
emancipation  and  colonization  movements  were  common 
to  Northern  and  Southern  people,  the  former  doing  most 
by  way  of  prayer,  the  latter  by  contributions  and  sacri- 
fices. While  all  sections  were  harmonious  and  worked 
together  upon  the  subject,  much  good  was  accomplished. 
Thousands  of  slaves  were  emancipated  and  conveyed  to 
Liberia  ;  and  the  interchange  of  sympathies,  views,  and 
labors,  led  to  valuable  improvements  in  the  South  of  the 
condition  of  those  remaining  in  bondage.  But  these 
good  services  were  destined  soon  to  end. 

That  there  were  in  New  England  bitter  haters  of  the 
South  at  an  early  period  of  our  government,  has  already 


318  A   HISTORY   OF 

been  shown  ;  but  the  change  of  feeling  amongst  the 
masses  of  Northern  men,  in  regard  to  Southern  institu- 
tions, by  which  enmity  to  the  South  has  become  more 
general  in  the  North,  has  been  the  work  of  time.  Un- 
fortunately for  the  prevalence  of  sound  views  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  are  unacquainted  with  the  institution, 
and  know  comparatively  nothing  of  slaves,  or  of  what 
they  gain  or  lose  by  their  servitude.  They  draw  their 
sentiment  of  anti-slavery  directly  from  God,  and  acquire 
it  at  their  birth.  We  know  this  from  our  own  Northern 
birth.  We  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  rightfulness  of  slavery  ;  we  know  it  is 
wrong.  We  will  not  insult  our  understandings  by 
doubting  the  great  enormity  of  so  foul  a  thing  as  hu- 
man bondage.  Abhorrence  of  slavery  comes  into  our 
hearts  as  naturally  as  breath  into  our  nostrils,  and  we 
have  nothing  to  do  throughout  our  whole  lives  but  de- 
nounce the  monster.  In  this  we  are  not  singular.  Re- 
verse our  circumstances  with  the  people  of  the  South, 
and  they  would  do  the  same.  In  1776  no  fiercer  words 
in  condemnation  of  slavery  were  coined  by  anybody 
than  by  the  patriots  of  the  South.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  drawn  by  a  slaveholder.  In  regard 
to  detestation  of  slavery,  there  is  no  difference  between 
the  people  of  the  North  and  South ;  they  are  both  from 
the  same  stock,  and  in  the  veins  of  both  runs  the  same 
blood.  But  these  two  people  differ  widely  in  their  feel- 
ings in  regard  to  negro  servitude.  The  people  of  the 
North  have  long  cultivated  their  anti-slavery  sentiment 
unmodified  by  any  knowledge,  or  scarcely  inquiry,  as 
to  what  negro  slavery  really  is  ;  and  while  the  people 
of  the  South  have  abated  no  jot  of  their  love  of  liberty, 


THE   WHIG   TARTY.  319 

their  daily  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  native  inca- 
pacity of  negroes  for  the  enjoyment  of  civil  liberty,  rec- 
onciles them  to  the  continuance  of  a  species  of  servitude 
,which  contains  not  a  single  element  of  the  slavery  so 
odious  to  the  Northern  heart.  It  is  only  the  illiterate, 
illiberal,  and  bigoted  ultra  of  the  North  that  consigns 
all  the  slaveholders  of  the  South  to  infamy,  pronouncing 
them  all  to  be  wicked  and  vile  for  holding  negroes  in 
bondage.  Still,  too  few  in  the  free  states  are  disposed 
to  concede  that  religion,  morality,  and  virtue,  can  flour- 
ish in  what  are  called  the  slave  states.  There  is  in  the 
North  a  woful  misapprehension  upon  the  subject  of  negro 
servitude  and  Southern  society.  The  fact  that  the  South- 
ern people  are  humane,  virtuous,  high-minded,  liberal, 
and  upright,  is  not  appreciated  ;  and  that  the  millions  of 
helpless  negroes  of  the  South  have  no  hope  for  elevation 
and  happiness  saving  through  subordination  to  their 
Southern  masters,  is  not  considered  or  known  ;  and  the 
fact  that  negro  bondage  in  the  Southern  States  has 
already  accomplished  more  for  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  the  negro  race  than  has  ever  before  been  wrought 
out  for  him  upon  earth  since  his  creation,  is  with  fanat- 
ical hysterics  denied  or  not  admitted.  The  fact  is,  the 
people  of  the  North  have  condemned  their  Southern 
brethren  as  slaveholders,  and  attach  to  them  all  the 
odium  their  hearts  have  ever  felt  for  slavery. 

The  propagation  of  an  ultra  anti-slavery  feeling 
amongst  the  people  of  the  North  has  been  going  for- 
ward for  many  years,  from  various  motives,  and  in  va- 
rious methods,  many  of  which  have  already  been  alluded 
to.  It  is  not  strange  that  much  delusion  upon  the  sub- 
ject should  exist,  especially  in  the  extreme  North,  where 
but  little  is  known  of  negro  slavery  or  of  the  negro 
28 


320  A    HISTORY    OF 

race.  The  people  of  the  North  are  progressive.  They 
are  a  reading,  inquiring,  and  reforming  people.  There 
are  a  few  subjects  that  have,  it  is  true,  received  more 
than  ordinary  attention  at  their  hands  ;  but  it  must  not 
be  inferred  from  this  that  the  Northern  people  are  indif- 
ferent to  things  in  general.  The  subject  of  slavery  has 
been  one  of  their  specialities  ;  to  this  they  have  given 
uncommon  attention  in  their  way.  There  are  a  few 
other  subjects  also  that  have  been  extensively  agitated 
in  New  England,  and  among  them  temperance  and  cap- 
ital punishment  may  be  named.  Scarcely  does  a  North- 
ern child  leave  his  cradle,  before  he  is  embarked  upon 
the  limitless  ocean  of  discussion  upon  such  topics  as 
before  named,  and  slavery  is  the  first  and  last  that  is 
found  engaging  his  heart  and  understanding.  Not  only 
is  the  subject  discussed  over  the  newspaper  at  the  fire- 
side, but  the  boy's  first  effort  at  composition  is  upon 
the  most  thrilling'  of  all  subjects,  to  wit,  slavery ;  as 
the  current  and  household  ideas  of  the  day  upon  this 
topic  will  flow  when  the  poor  lad  would  be  mute  upon 
most  others.  Declamations  in  the  schools,  also,  are 
generally  upon  that  subject ;  and  slavery  has  been  the 
standing  and  never-ending  subject  for  debating  societies 
for  time  out  of  mind.  The  youthful  mental  faculties 
of  Northern  people  for  over  half  a  century  have  been 
disciplined  on  that  subject.  If  there  is  any  theme  on 
which  the  New  England  mind  is  active,  and  the  tongue 
glib  and  eloquent,  it  is  upon  this.  The  same  stereo- 
typed ideas  have  passed  through  generations,  and  by 
the  cultivation  of  constant  exercise  are  kept  lively  and 
inspiring.  This  must  necessarily  be  so.  It  is  impossible 
to  chain  down  the  faculties  of  an  active  mind.  The 
poverty  and  laborious  lot  of  millions  of  our  country- 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  321 

men  preclude  their  research  and  investigation  into  sub- 
jects requiring  a  preliminary  education,  and  the  knowl- 
edge which  reading  and  science  can  alone  supply  ;  and 
consequently  the  native  activity  and  vivacity  of  their 
mental  energies  must  be  brought  into  play  upon  topics 
upon  which  reason  can  act  with  but  little  aid  save  a  resort 
to  its  own  resources.  Not  only  to  such,  but  likewise  to 
many  a  poverty-stricken  intellect  in  the  schools,  the 
question  of  slavery  is  a  god-send,  affording  a  therne  for 
composition  or  declamation  when  no  other  subject  can 
"  start  a  spirit."  Many  a  schoolboy  debater  has  shown 
his  nascent  oratorical  powers  in  depicting  the  stripes 
and  chains  and  other  standing  accompaniments  of  sla- 
very ;  and,  from  the  renown  won  in  such  exercises,  been 
promoted  to  the  pulpit,  or  to  the  station  of  a  travelling 
lecturer  for  some  anti-slavery  society.  No  clergyman 
reaches  the  sacred  desk  without  more  or  less  use  of  this 
subject  for- the  exercise  of  his  faculties.  And  there  is 
but  one  manner  in  which  slavery  is  uniformly  treated  by 
such  young  and  old  orators.  It  is  made  the  subject  of 
declamation.  All  such  efforts  are  highly  drawn  pictures 
of  the  horrors  of  slavery,  produced  for  effect.  Not  only 
this,  but  no  sooner  does  the  schoolboy  find  that  he  can 
put  ideas  together  upon  paper,  than  some  village  print 
groans  under  a  lucid  exposition  upon  this  fruitful  topic 
from  his  pen.  Thus,  by  orators,  editors,  and  poets,  all 
the  outrages  by  slave  owners  ever  committed  are  col- 
lected together,  and  with  passion-breathing  accents 
pressed  upon  Northern  auditors  and  readers  ;  and  it 
would  not  be  at  all  strange  if  upon  this  subject  the 
minds  of  the  Northern  people  were  tolerably  united. 
But  the  slightest  glance  shows  that  the  Northern  mind, 
in  arriving  at  its  present  position  on  the  question  of 


322  A   HISTORY   OP 

negro  slavery,  has  been  educated  wholly  by  its  feelings. 
It  has  never  been  informed  upon  the  real  merits  of  the 
subject.  We  all  know  this  very  well,  as  we  can  reflect 
back  upon  the  earlier  period  of  our  lives,  and  recollect 
the  accounts  uniformly  given  us  by  our  teachers  of 
Southern  slavery.  Was  our  childhood  ever  notified  of 
a  single  bright  spot  in  it?  Were  we  ever  told  that 
such  a  thing  as  a  good  slaveholder  could  exist  ?  Did 
we  ever  imagine  that  a  slave  could  utter  anything  but 
groans,  or  that  the  poor  negro's  life  could  be  anything 
but  an  unintermitted  torture  ?  Let  us  revert  in  recol- 
lection to  the  accounts  of  slavery  in  the  South  that  the 
books  arid  papers  our  teachers  used  to  place  before  us 
presented  to  us.  We  even  see  now,  in  memory,  the 
pictures  in  our  Sabbath-school  books  of  the  poor  blacks, 
with  manacled  hands  outstretched  to  heaven,  with  woe 
and  agony  depicted  upon  their  countenances.  No 
glimpse  of  the  exact  truth  in  regard  to  the  matter  ever 
entered  the  mind  of  the  Northern  youth  ;  but  the  whole 
subject,  from  some  cause  or  other,  has  been  shrouded 
with  an  impenetrable  cloud  of  error  and  falsehood.  We 
demand  to  know  by  what  Northern  writer,  teacher, 
or  lecturer,  for  the  past  fifty  years,  the  youth  of  New 
England  have  been  instructed  that  of  the  millions  of 
negroes  in  servitude  in  the  South,  the  great  mass  are 
contented,  happy,  well  cared  for,  and  enjoying  every 
blessing  their  natures  are  susceptible  of?  Who  has 
taught  that  the  highest  happiness  the  negro  has  ever 
known  upon  earth,  has,  beyond  all  controversy,  been 
realized  in  Southern  servitude  ?  Where  is  now  the 
Northern  lecturer,  editor,  teacher,  or  divine,  that  will 
admit  that  the  overthrow  of  Southern  slavery  would  be 
the  ruin  of  the  comfort,  civilization,  and  happiness  of 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  323 

those  millions  of  negroes  now  in  bondage  ?  When  and 
by  whom  were  we  ever  told  that  the  Southern  people 
are  a  civilized,  polished,  humane,  and  Christian  people? 
And,  in  speaking  evil  of  them,  when  were  we  ever 
rebuked  for  bearing  false  evidence  against  our  neigh- 
bor? 

{  The  history  of  the  progress  of  the  sentiment  of  anti- 
slavery  in  the  North  is  familiar  to  all.  Many  events  in 
that  history  have  been  alluded  to.  A  revolution  in  the 
feelings  of  the  Northern  people  has  been  gradually,  but 
surely,  going  on,  —  a  revolution  that  will  bring  with  it 
important  consequences  to  mankind.  It  is  a  revolution 
that  will  change  the  face  of  affairs  in  the  moral  and 
political  world.  The  dismemberment  of  the  American 
Republic  will  restore  legitimacy  throughout  the  whole 
earth,  and  this  dismemberment  can  only  be  achieved 
through  the  agency  of  Northern  feeling  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery.  The  process  by  which  foreign  enemies  of 
Republicanism  are  accomplishing  this  has  been  pointed 
out,  and  any  one  can  see  the  fruits  of  their  labors. 
The  revolution  is  progressing.  The  Northern  churches 
first  withdraw  their  fellowship  and  connection  with  those 
of  the  South.  To  hold  slaves  is  pronounced  sinful ;  a 
gulf  is  to  be  interposed  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Christian.  The  Northern  Christian  smites  his 
breast,  and  thanks  God  that  he  is  better  than  his 
Southern  brother,  with  whom  he  deems  it  a  sin  to  com- 
mune. Other  religious  societies  are  crumbling  beneath 
the  breath  of  the  fiend  of  civil  discord,  and  every  day 
the  fierce  purity  of  the  North  is  pouring  its  destructive 
and  wrathful  bolts  into  the  South  ;  and  so  outrageous  is 
the  hatred  of  the  South  in  the  hearts  of  Northern  Chris- 
tians, that  that  unhappy  part  of  the  world  is  hardly 
28* 


324  A   HISTORY    OF 

considered  worthy  of  a  missionary's  care,  hardly  con- 
sidered worth  saving. 

But,  passing  over  the  invidious  designs  and  means 
by  which  the  enemies  of  our  institutions  are  working 
their  destruction,  we  will  note  some  of  the  evidences 
of  the  progress  of  the  fatal  revolution  which  is  going 
on  amongst  us.  For  years  after  the  formation  of  our 
Union  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  were  re- 
garded as  sacred,  and  no  one  thought  of  refusing  obedi- 
ence. The  right  of  holding  slaves  was  recognized,  as 
well  as  the  right  of  all  the  states  and  territories  to 
import  slaves,  at  least  until  the  year  1808.  The  Con- 
stitution preserved  to  the  people  of  the  states  and 
territories  the  right  of  carrying  on  the  slave-trade  for 
twenty  years  after  its  adoption,  which  would  indicate 
that  by  that  instrument  slavery  was  riot  viewed  as  a  local 
institution.  The  Constitution  also  provided  that  if  one 
held  to  labor  in  one  state  should  escape  into  another, 
he  should  not  be  discharged  from  such  service  by  any 
laws  of  the  state  into  which  he  should  flee  ;  but,  on 
demand,  be  surrendered  up.  The  provision  was  plainly 
penned,  and  was  inserted  in  the  Constitution  for  the 
protection  of  the  owners  of  slaves.  During  the  admin- 
istration of  President  Washington,  a  fugitive  law,  as  it 
has  been  called,  was  enacted  by  Congress,  by  which 
negroes  escaping  into  free  states  were  arrested  and 
carried  back  to  their  masters.  To  this  law  there  was 
no  objection  for  years.  In  fact,  the  escape,  or  attempt 
at  escape,  of  a  slave  —  a  full-blooded  negro  slave  —  is 
a  rare  occurrence,  save  when  enticed  by  the  deceptive 
wiles  of  abolitionists.  For  many  years  the  fugitive  law 
was  rarely  called  for.  The  escape  of  slaves,  never  very 
large  in  proportion  to  the  number  in  the  South,  was 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  325 

always  very  small  until  systematic  efforts  for  running 
them  off  were  instituted  by  a  set  of  men  who  have 
made  themselves  rich  out  of  the  pockets  of  deluded 
Northern  people.  Coeval  with  the  outburst  of  radical 
abolition,  with  the  construction  of  those  under-ground 
railroads  for  decoying  away  slaves  from  their  owners, 
the  Northern  States  began  to  pass  laws  in  contraven- 
tion of  the  fugitive  law  of  1793.  This  law  prescribed 
the  manner  of  procedure  in  apprehending  the  fugitive, 
looking  to  the  use  of  the  officers  of  the  law,  sheriffs, 
jailers,  and  so  forth,  of  the  several  states.  The  legis- 
latures of  the  free  states  did  not,  in  terms,  nullify  the 
letter  of  the  law  of  1*793,  but  they  passed  laws  forbid- 
ding the  use  of  their  jails  for  the  purposes  specified  in 
that  law,  and  forbidding  the  state  officers,  under  heavy 
penalties,  from  aiding  in  the  arrest  of  a  fugitive.  Prob- 
ably every  free  state  passed  such  laws,  and  many 
states  made  repeated  enactments  upon  the  subject. 
The  result  was  that  the  law  of  1793  became  a  dead 
letter.  The  enactment  stood,  but  the  agencies,  by 
which  the  Congress  of  '93  supposed  they  had  provided 
for  its  execution,  were  paralyzed.  In  effect,  the  law 
for  restoring  fugitives  was  nullified.  All  this  occurred, 
in  the  extreme  Northern  States,  many  years  ago,  and 
before  the  South  had  begun  to  feel  alarmed  for  their 
safety,  and  make  the  horrid  aggressions  on  the  North 
of  which  we  have  recently  heard  so  much.  What  was 
the  occasion  of  this  attack  on  the  constitutional  right 
of  the  South  ?  The  Constitution  says,  plainly  and  ex- 
plicitly, that  such  fugitive  escaping  into  a  neighboring 
state  shall,  on  demand,  be  given  up.  Now,  is  it  com- 
plying with  that  Constitution  for  a  state  not  only  to 
refuse  to  surrender  such  fugitive,  but  to  pass  penal 


326  A   HISTORY   OF 

laws  for  the  prevention  of  its  officers  in  aiding  in  such 
surrender  ?  Is  it  honest  for  sensible  Northern  men  to 
pretend  that  such  legislative  acts  are  not  in  open  defi- 
ance of  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  slave  states  ? 
It  is  true  that  there  are  shallow,  sophistical  knaves, 
who  sometimes  pretend  that  the  word  used  in  the  Con- 
stitution for  fugitives  does  not  mean  slaves  ;  but  for 
every  honest  man  it  is  sufficient  to  know  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  the 
highest  courts  in  such  states  as  Massachusetts  and 
New  York,  have  pronounced  that  provision  in  the  Con- 
stitution to  relate  to  slaves  ;  and  every  man  of  common 
sense  and  common  honesty  must  see  and,  at  once, 
admit  this.  But  what  Northern  lecturer  or  editor, 
while  enlarging  upon  the  subject  of  Southern  encroach- 
ments, ever  mentions  this  palpable  and  flagrant  outrage 
upon  the  clear  rights  of  the  South  ?  The  man  that,  for 
a  moment,  moved  by  conscience,  should  presume  to 
suggest  that  the  people  of  the  North  had  been  in  error 
upon  the  subject,  would  be  quite  universally  stigmatized 
as  a  dough-face  and  a  pro-slavcryite.  But  one  side  ever 
has  or  ever  will  be  heard  in  the  North.  The  Northern 
mind  is  fixed  upon  the  subject,  and  fixed  by  fraud  and 
falsehood.  But  the  despots  of  Europe  know  the  force 
of  fixed  ideas.  The  human  heart  loves  a  falsehood, 
when  adopted,  as  ardently  as  it  does  a  truth.  If  any 
one  doubts  this,  let  him  attempt  to  reason  with  a  fol- 
lower of  Mahomet,  Joe  Smith,  or  Lloyd  Garrison. 

When  the  intrigues  of  Europe  commenced  the  anti- 
slavery  enterprise  in  the  North,  there  was  but  a  narrow 
field  for  political  action.  The  District  of  Columbia  was 
the  only  territory  we  had  in  which  slaves  could  be  held, 
and  the  fierce  crusade  against  the  institutions  of  that 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  327 

district  is  well  remembered.  In  those  days  the  South 
was  the  party  attacked,  vilified,  and  outraged.  On 
slight  pretexts,  the  enemies  of  the  country  took  occa- 
sion in  the  South  to  blacken  the  North,  and  in  the 
North  to-  traduce  the  South.  All  remember  how,  by 
degrees,  the  sensitiveness  of  the  Northern  mind  upon 
the  subject  of  slavery  was  increased,  and  how  politi- 
cians, lecturers,  authors,  and  editors,  began  to  avail 
themselves  of  that  sensitiveness  to  advance  their  selfish 
purposes.  Northern  legislatures,  year  after  year,  for 
a  long  series  of  years,  have  constantly  put  forth  strong 
resolutions  denouncing  slavery  and  slaveholders.  These 
resolutions,  many  of  them,  have  been  of  the  most  in- 
sulting kind,  and  forwarded  to  the  executives  of  South- 
ern states,  seemingly  for  no  purpose  but  insult.  The 
country  for  years  has  been  overrun  with  anti-slavery 
lecturers,  whose  sole  mission  it  has  been  to  abuse  the 
Southern  people.  Miserable  negroes  and  negro- wenches 
have  repeated  to  Northern  audiences  the  committed 
slang  compiled  from  abolition  writings ;  and  dishonest, 
swindling  white  lecturers,  male  and  female,  have,  year 
after  year,  poured  into  Northern  ears  their  slandering 
falsehoods  about  the  South  ;  and  all  this  has  been  done 
not  to  show  the  propriety  of  political  action  as  to  slavery, 
but  to  embitter  the  feelings  of  the  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren of  one  section.of  the  country  against  another.  The 
object  of  the  work  has  been  to  produce  an  alienation  of 
feeling  between  the  North  and  the  South.  Those  care- 
less and  unreflecting  or  unsuspecting  men  and  women  of 
the  North,  who  have  professed  that  they  had  no  desire 
to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists, 
have  listened  complacently  to  the  foul  fiends  whose 
mission  it  has  been  to  sow  the  seeds  of  dissension  and 


328  A    HISTORY   OF 

anarchy  in  their  hearts.  False  accounts  have  been 
uniformly  given  of  Southern  institutions.  The  lectures 
repeated  to  Northern  auditors  have  uniformly  been 
tissues  of  exaggeration  or  lies  ;  and  the  feelings  pro- 
duced by  them  in  the  hearts  of  Northern  people  have 
been,  in  the  highest  degree,  unjust  to  their  Southern 
friends.  And  editors  are  now  almost  universally  com- 
mitted against  the  South.  Unless  the  newspaper  minis- 
ters to  the  diseased  feeling  of  the  Northern  mind,  upon 
the  subject  of  slavery,  it  will  find  but  slim  support. 
Journals,  that  twenty  years  ago  were  national  and  con- 
servative, now  freely  devote  themselves  to  the  abuse 
of  the  Southern  people.  Such  could  be  mentioned, 
but  every  reader  knows  the  fact.  We  see  in  such 
journals  the  fiercest  invectives  against  slaveholders  as 
such  ;  and  purely  for  the  purpose  of  arraying  the  North 
against  the  South,  of  carrying  forward  the  great  work 
of  embittering  one  section  against  another,  of  making 
the  North  hate  the  South,  Southern  advertisements  for 
runaway  slaves,  and  for  the  auction  of  slaves,  are  freely 
copied  into  their  columns,  and  sent  abroad  amongst  the 
Northern  people.  There  can  be  but  one  object  in  such 
a  course,  and  that  has  been  to  increase  the  ill-feeling 
between  the  two  sections  of  the  country.  And  authors 
and  writers  of  fiction  have  gathered  a  rich  harvest  from 
the  matured  enmity  existing  in  the  North  against  the 
the  South,  and  are  doing  their  part  to  forward  the  work 
of  alienation. 


THE    WHIG    PARTY.  329 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE    ACQUISITION    OF    NEW    TERRITORY    OCCASIONED    THE    INCREASE  OP 
FREESOILISM. ACTION     OF    THE  SOUTH.  SECESSION   MEDITATED. 

j.  c.  CALHOUN'S  SPEECH  AND  POSITION.  —  CONTROVERSIES  IN  REGARD 

TO  CALIFORNIA,  NEW  MEXICO  AND  UTAH. THE  WILMOT  PROVISO.  

DISUNION     IMMINENT.  —  COMPROMISE     MEASURES    OF     MR.     CLAY.  — 

WEBSTER'S  SEVENTH  OF  MARCH  SPEECH.  —  CALIFORNIA  PREFERS  FREE- 
LABOR.  SLAVERY  FOUND  TO  BE  A  QUESTION  OF  CLIMATE.  COM- 
PROMISE MEASURES  PASS.  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW.  —  NEW  ENG- 
LAND OFFENDED  AT  WEBSTER  FOR  FAVORING  THAT  LAW. CHANGE  OF 

THE  POPULAR  MIND,  AND  THE  ANCIENT  FEELING  ON  THE  SUBJECT, 
ETC. 

THE  election  of  General  Taylor,  in  1848,  was,  for  the 
Whigs,  the  fortunate  result  of  a  singular  combination 
of  circumstances.  The  events  of  Mr.  Folk's  adminis- 
tration had  deeply  stirred  the  anti-slavery  feeling  of  the 
North  ;  but  that  feeling,  owing  to  the  peculiar  nomina- 
tions of  the  different  parties,  was  wasted  like  useless 
steam.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  the  best  abolitionist  offered 
to  the  anti-slavery  men  of  the  free  states  !  But  the 
long-cherished  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  North 
was  soon  aroused  into  unwonted  activity.  It  was  at 
once  decided,  by  old  and  by  ypung,  by  men  and  by 
women,  that,  the  new  territories  must  be  free.  The 
question  of  the  freedom  of  the  territories  was,  in  the 
free  states,  of  course,  magnified  into  vast  importance  ; 
and,  as  the  free-state  party  was  the  largest,  the  South 


330  A   HISTORY    OP 

at   once   imagined  herself    divested   of   her  rights   in 
property  acquired  by  the  blood  of  her  sons. 

The  newly-aroused  crusade  in  the  North  against 
slavery  in  the  territories,  or  the  admission  of  more 
slave  states,  provoked  the  indignation  of  the  South. 
The  idea  that  the  people  of  New  England  should  dic- 
tate to  the  people  of  a  territory  or  state,  as  to  their 
domestic  institutions,  was  to  Southern  people  repul- 
sive and  exciting.  The  course  taken  by  the  South,  in 
consequence  of  that  pursued  by  the  North,  is  well 
recollected.  The  Southern  manifesto,  signed  by  forty- 
two  members  of  Congress  ;  the  Southern  Convention  at 
Nashville ;  the  establishment  of  the  Southern  Press  at 
Washington  to  advocate  secession ;  and  the  open 
organization  of  a  plan  of  secession  and  disunion  by 
some  of  the  Southern  people,  are  recollected  as  features 
of  the  history  "of  those  times.  The  excitement  in  the 
South  was  intense,  and  the  country  was  regarded  as  in 
uncommon  peril.  The  factions  in  both  the  North  and 
the  South  were  aroused  into  energetic  action,  and 
seemed  inspired  with  a  common  purpose — to  wit,  the 
overthrow  of  the  Union.  And  this  long-meditated 
purpose  of  the  enemies  of  the  American  Union  seemed 
in  a  fair  way  of  accomplishment.  The  North  was,  it 
appeared,  on  the  point  of  excluding  slavery  from  the 
territories  by  legislation  ;  and  the  South,  it  was  well 
known,  would  never  submit  to  what  she  regarded  as 
an  act  of  usurpation.  It  appeared  inevitable  that 
a  collision  between  the  North  and  the  South  must 
ensue,  and  that  the  strength  of  the  government  was  on 
the  eve  of  a  trial.  Mr.  Calhoun's  celebrated  speech 
cannot  be  forgotten.  He  virtually  pronounced  the 
Union  at  an  end.  But  in  this  he  no  more  than  repeated 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  331 

his  prophecy  of  an  earlier  date.  Mr.  Calhoun  has  been 
much  derided,  in  years  past,  for  pronouncing  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Union  inevitable  ;  and,  as  the  Union  has 
continued  as  yet  unbroken,  his  speeches  and  prognosti- 
cations are  treated  as  unworthy  of  notice.  But  per- 
haps he  who  fifty  years,  or  twenty  years,  or  ten  years 
hence,  shall  read  the  works  of  the  American  states- 
men of  the  age  just  past,  will  find  in  those  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  the  clearest  insight  into  the  spirit  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  country,  and  by  far  the  greatest  foresight 
as  to  the  tendency  of  the  events  and  measures  of  his 
day.  There  was  nothing  dim,  obscure,  or  shadowy, 
in  his  mental  vision.  The  future  to  him  was  the 
present.  He  saw  as  in  sun-light  that  the  agitation  of 
the  slavery  question  would  infallibly  rupture  the  liga- 
ments that  connect  the  American  states.  As  he  saw 
that  this  result  must  inevitably  and  certainly  occur,  it 
was  his  opinion  that  the  South  should  take  advantage 
of  the  period  when  she  was  nearly  on  equality  with 
the  North,  and  meet  the  coming  issue  at  once  ;  and,  if 
to  be  settled  disastrously  to  the  Union,  have  it  settled 
when  the  South  might  meet  the  storm  with  less  peril  to 
herself.  The  nature  of  fanaticism,  the  objects  of  North- 
ern fanatics,  the  tendency  of  Northern  preaching  and 
lecturing,  arid  the  results  to  be  apprehended  from  the 
constant  outpouring  from  the  Northern  press  of  anti- 
slavery  sentiments,  were  clearly,  strongly  and  vividly 
portrayed,  time  and  time  again,  in  the  speeches  of  that 
clear-minded  man.  The  agitations  of  the  last  three  or 
four  years,  and  the  present  universal  anti-slavery  excite- 
ment of  the  North,  are  but  the  realizations  of  his  early 
prophecies,  for  which  he  was,  when  he  uttered  them, 
unheeded,  or  regarded  as  wild  and  visionary.  Nothing 
29 


332  A   HISTORY   OF 

but  the  ruin  of  this  Union,  through  the  agency  of  the 
slavery  agitation,  is  requisite  to  show  that  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  was  the  clearest-minded  man  of  his  times,  and  to 
establish  the  wisdom  of  his  counsel  for  that  section 
of  the  country  which  he  saw  must  some  day  become 
the  victim  of  a  fanatical  crusade.  Upon  the  occasion 
of  which  we  are  speaking,  Mr.  Calhoun,  deciding  what 
the  South  should  do  by  the  light  of  what  he  thought 
she  ought  to  do,  pronounced  disunion  inevitable.  He 
saw  that  the  North  had  ceased  to  recognize  the  consti- 
tutional rights  of  the  South  ;  that  the  restoration  of 
fugitives  was  refused ;  and  that  the  territories  were  to 
be  closed  to  Southern  occupation.  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Webster  were  at  that  time  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  both  solemnly  and  earnestly  admonished  the  country 
that  the  Union  was  in  danger  ;  and  this  was  the  unani- 
mous opinion  of  every  right-minded  and  sound-minded 
statesman  in  the  land. 

But  how  idle,  how  futile,  how  uncalled-for  arid  un- 
necessary the  whole  uproar  of  the  North  as  to  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  territories  !  How  strange,  how 
wonderful  have  been  the  developments  of  Providence  I 
And  how  short-sighted  and  contemptible  have  appeared 
the  aims  and  labors  of  our  Northern  people  in  regard  to 
these  territorial  questions  !  To  such  men  as  Clay  and 
Webster  the  unexpected  and  marvellous  course  of 
events  in  California  opened  the  first  gleam  of  sunshine 
through  the  dense  clouds  that  overhung  the  horizon. 
California  !  —  the  land  of  gold  —  the  fruits  of  the  war, 
and  undoubtedly  the  gift  of  Providence !  Her  gold 
discoveries  immediately  filled  her  with  American  citi- 
zens ;  and,  before  the  quarrel  about  the  territories  was 
well  under  way,  she  was  knocking  for  admission  into 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  333 

the  Union  as  a  sovereign  state  !  She  had  taken  a  large 
emigration  from  the  South,  as  well  as  other  parts  of  the 
land  ;  but,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  world,  when  her 
convention  assembled  to  form  a  Constitution,  her  dele- 
gates were  unanimous  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery  ! 
And  for  the  proposed  state  a  Constitution  excluding 
slavery  was  adopted.  Nearly  one-half  of  the  delegates 
in  that  constitutional  convention  were  persons  who 
had  emigrated  from  the  South  !  The  marvel  of  Cali- 
fornia in  this  respect  has  recently  been  repeated  in  the 
territory  of  Kansas.  A  goodly  portion  of  the  settlers 
of  Kansas  are  from  the  South,  and  three-fifths  of  those 
derived  from  slave  states  are  in  favor  of  excluding 
slaves  from  the  territory!  Such  facts  at  once  divest 
Northern  preaching  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  of  all 
its  importance!  The  course  of  California  threw  the 
first  ray  of  light  upon  the  subject,  and  taught  all  reason- 
able men  what  reason  had  before  suggested  —  that  is, 
slavery  is  a  question  of  climate  and  soil.  It  cannot 
exist  where  the  Saxon  race  can  cultivate  the  land,  as  it 
cannot  compete  with  white  labor.  The  negro  slave  lias 
been  moving  soutli wards  ever  since  the  establishment 
of  our  independence  ;  and  white  labor  will,  at  no  very 
distant  future  day,  crowd  him  still  further  south. 

But,  in  1850,  the  Northern  mind  was  busy  and  big 
with  the  destiny  of  the  territories.  The  action  of  Cali- 
fornia had  providentially  opened  a  door  for  compromise. 
Mr.  Clay,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  proposed  a 
series  of  compromise  measures  which,  it  was  thought 
and  hoped,  would  at  once  and  forever  put  the  agitation 
of  the  slavery  question  in  the  United  States  tit  an  end. 
Among  other  things,  he  proposed  the  admission  of  Cal- 
ifornia with  her  free  Constitution ;  the  adoption  of 


334  A    HISTORY    OF 

territorial  governments  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah  on 
the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty  ;  the  passage  of  a 
fugitive  slave  law  to  carry  out  a  provision  of  the  Con- 
stitution ;  and  the  abolishment  of  the  slave-trade  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  The  result  of  these  propositions 
of  Mr.  Clay  needs  no  particular  description.  They 
were  supported  by  that  statesman  by  a  most  powerful 
and  patriotic  speech  ;  and  in  favor  of  them  Mr.  Webster 
made  his  celebrated  seventh  of  March  effort.  The  three 
great  American  statesmen  were  again  brought  together 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  signalized  themselves 
by  masterly  efforts  upon  an  occasion  full  of  uncertainty, 
fear,  and  danger,  to  their  country.  Mr.  Calhoun  was 
very  feeble ;  his  great  speech  was  read  to  the  Senate 
by  a  friend.  He  died  the  last  day  of  March,  but  had 
heard  the  efforts  of  his  powerful  opponents.  Mr.  Web- 
ster was  transferred  from  the  Senate  to  the  state 
department  by  Mr.  Fillmore,  and  Mr.  Clay's  voice  soon 
died  away  from  the  Senate,  to  be  heard  there  no  more. 
Neither  Mr.  Clay  nor  Mr.  Webster  lived  to  witness 
another  presidential  election.  The  death  of  Mr.  Clay 
occurred  in  June,  1852,  and  that  of  Mr.  Webster  in 
October. 

The  pacification  measures  of  Mr.  Clay  were  finally 
carried  through  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  received 
the  approbation  of  the  President ;  but  the  fiend  of  sec- 
tional discord  was  far  from  allayed.  No  one  not  a 
witness  by  personal  presence  can  have  any  adequate 
conception  of  the  true  state  of  Northern  feeling  upon 
all  the  topics  of  the  slavery  question.  Against  the  law 
for  the  restoration  of  fugitives  the  prejudices  of  the 
Northern  people  were  and  are  very  strong.  This  preju- 
dice was  felt  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  was  remarked  upon 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  335 

in  the  Senate,  in  July,  1850.  "  It  was  created,"  he 
truly  said,  "  by  the  incessant  action  on  the  public  mind 
of  abolition  societies,  abolition  presses,  and  abolition 
lecturers.  No  drum-head,  in  the  longest  day's  march, 
was  ever  more  incessantly  beaten  and  smitten,  than 
public  sentiment  in  the  North  has  been,  every  month, 
and  day,  and  hour,  by  the  din,  and  roll,  and  rub-a-dub 
of  abolition  writers  and  abolition  lecturers."  It  is  true 
the  voice  of  Clay  and  Webster  was  somewhat  heeded 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  but  much  less  than  upon 
former  occasions  ;  and  amongst  the  people  of  the  North 
their  influence  was  at  an  end.  Of  the  Whig  delegation 
in  Congress  from  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Webster  stood 
alone  upon  those  compromise  measures,  and  it  was 
soon  apparent  that  the  old  leaven  of  conservatism  had 
departed  from  the  Whig  ranks.  No  candid  man  will 
pretend  that  either  of  these  venerable  statesmen  had 
at  all  changed  his  opinions  upon  the  subject  of  slavery, 
or  did  or  said  anything  in  1850  inconsistent  with  the 
principles  advocated  by  him  in  former  years  ;  yet  their 
course  upon  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  gave 
offence  to  the  great  mass  of  the  Whigs  of  the  free 
states.  The  usage  of  Mr.  Webster  by  the  people  of 
Hi  •  North,  —  of  his  own  state, — for  the  positions  taken 
by  him  in  his  seventh  of  March  speech,  is  fresh  in  the 
recollection  of  every  one.  lie  incurred  the  condemna- 
tion of  Massachusetts,  arid  the  censure  of  the  whole 
North,  for  the  most  patriotic  service  he  ever  rendered 
his  country.  No  man  can  point  out  an  opinion  or 
statement  in  that  celebrated  speech  that  is  not  founded 
in  reason,  justice  and  truth.  His  positions  were  all 
eminently  correct,  and  his  sentiments  the  very  soul 
of  patriotism.  The  unfortunate  events  of  Mr.  Folk's 
29* 


336  A    HISTORY   OF 

administration  had  involved  the  country  in  a  fierce  sec- 
tional controversy,  that  was  threatening  civil  war  and 
disunion,  and  Mr.  Webster,  in  coming  forward  to  sup- 
port measures  of  pacification,  was  not  guilty  of  making 
improper  concessions  to  the  South ;  he  did  not  offer  to 
yield  any  right  of  the  North,  or  grant  the  South  an}^- 
thing  not  theirs  by  every  legal  and  moral  principle.  No ; 
his  fault  was  in  making  that  hated  section  any  conces- 
sions, however  justly  their  due.  Those  who  have  read 
and  reflected  upon  Mr.  Webster's  course  in  that  crisis 
know  this  very  well.  It  was  seen  by  intelligent  men 
that  if  such  territories  as  Kansas  and  California  are  not 
adapted  to  negro  labor,  it  is  mockery  to  talk  of  carrying 
slaves  into  the  sterile  plains  and  barren  heights  of  Utah 
and  New  Mexico  !  Mr.  Webster  saw  that  the  estab- 
lished freedom  of  California  was  the  end  of  all  legitimate 
controversy  about  slavery  in  the  territories,  and  deemed 
it  unnecessary  to  cover  the  arid  mountains  of  New 
Mexico  with  Wilmot  provisos.  For  this  perhaps  he 
was  not  particularly  censured  ;  but  for  consenting  to 
the  enactment  of  a  fugitive  slave  law  he  brought  down 
upon  himself  the  vengeance  of  the  whole  Freesoil  and 
abolition  posse  of  the  free  states.  He  had  been  guilty 
of  remaining  stationary  in  his  political  and  moral  prin- 
ciples. In  the  great  progress  around  him,  Mr.  Webster 
had  made  no  advance.  He  saw  clearly  that  the  con- 
servatism which  had  ever  rendered  the  Whigs  a  national 
party  was  disappearing ;  and  foresaw,  in  fact  saw,  the 
dissolution  and  ruin  of  that  party.  He  saw  and  felt 
the  tendency  of  the  times  during  the  presidential  cam- 
paign of  1848,  and  was  deeply  sensible  of  the  great 
change  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  had  wrought  in  the 
hearts  of  Northern  Whigs,  when  he  made  his  seventh 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  337 

of  March  speech.  The  embarrassments  of  his  situation 
were  trying ;  but  he  proved  true  to  his  mission,  to  the 
honor  of  his  state,  and  to  his  country.  He  found  it 
necessary  to  encounter  the  prejudices  of  those  whom  he 
loved,  arid  he  did  it  because  he  loved  them.  "  Verapro 
gratis; "  that  is,  instead  of  pandering-  agreeably  to  their 
peculiar  sentiments,  he  found  himself  obliged  to  tell 
them  truths.  He  was  not  so  ignorant  and  short-sighted 
as  to  be  unaware  that  his  course  would  bring  upon  him 
the  displeasure  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Northern  peo- 
ple ;  but  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  hesitate  when  duty 
to  his  country  called  upon  him  to  take  his  stand. 

The  odium  piled  upon  Mr.  Webster  for  his  support 
of  the  fugitive  slave  act  has  not  yet  wholly  abated. 
All  that  he  did  in  regard  to  the  measure  was  to  make 
that  seventh  of  March  speech.  Every  one  can  read  his 
words,  and  judge  of  his  guilt  or  innocence  as  to  that 
enactment.  He  was  clear  that  such  a  law  is  plainly 
demanded  by  the  Constitution.  No  one  denies  this. 
He  further  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  provisions 
of  the  Constitution  are  obligatory,  and  ought  to  be 
honestly,  fairly,  and  with  good  faith,  carried  out  and 
executed.  As  the  Constitution  secures  the  rights  of 
Southern  masters  to  the  restoration  of  their  fugitive 
slaves,  he  argued  that  it  is  no  more  than  just  and 
right  that  those  rights  should  be  observed.  This  was 
the  head  and  front  of  his  offending ;  so  his  offence  con- 
sisted in  his  following  the  example  of  Washington, 
rather  than  espousing  as  a  guide  the  modern  preachers 
of  a  higher  law,  who  ignore  all  constitutional  provisions 
that  contravene  the  law  of  God  I 

The  history  of  the  fugitive-slave  law  of  1793,  enacted 
at  the  recommendation  of  George  Washington,  we  are 


338  A   HISTORY   OF 

all  pretty  well  acquainted  with.  The  North  had  labori- 
ously and  most  cautiously  nullified  its  effect.  Enact- 
ment after  enactment  had  been  passed  by  state  legisla- 
tures to  defeat  its  operation  ;  and,  long  prior  to  1850,  it 
had  become,  in  the  free  states,  completely  a  dead  letter. 
The  return  of  fugitives  had  been  lectured  against,  writ- 
ten against,  preached  against,  and  legislated  against, 
by  thousands  and  thousands  of  persons  who  probably 
never  had  read  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
during  their  whole  lives.  Perhaps  it  is  not  fair  to  say 
that  the  Northern  people  deliberately  set  themselves  at 
work  to  rob  the  South  of  their  constitutional  rights,  for 
we  know  that  such  has  not  been  the  case.  There  has 
been  no  deliberation  in  the  matter.  The  whole  move- 
ment has  been  emotional.  The  understanding  and  con- 
science have  had  no  part  in  the  work.  Never  was  any- 
thing intended  but  a  blow  in  the  cause  of  freedom  ;  the 
rights  of  others  are  things  never  considered  by  the 
great  mass  of  those  who  have  followed  the  hue-and-cry 
of  British  emissaries  and  American  fanatics  and  traitors. 
Were  prejudiced  men  capable  of  reason  and  justice, 
the  people  of  the  North  would  at  once  see  and  acknowl- 
edge their  inconsistency  and  error.  Fugitives  from 
slavery  are  quite  rare.  The  right  of  their  capture  is  a 
small  thing  compared  with  the  question  of  holding  some 
three  millions  of  negroes  in  bondage.  Nevertheless, 
nearly  one-half  (perhaps  more)  of  the  Northern  people 
will  say  at  once  that  they  are  not  for  disturbing  slavery 
in  the  states  where  located,  because  in  these  states 
slavery  has  the  sanction  of  the  Constitution.  It  is  only 
in  the  territories,  say  many,  that  the  Constitution  does 
not  protect  the  institution  ;  but  in  the  slave  states  they 
have  no  desire  to  meddle  with  it.  Then,  if  content  that 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  339 

such  states  enjoy  their  negroes,  why  is  the  master  op- 
posed in  pursuing  one  who  escapes  ;  especially  as  the 
Constitution  particularly  guards  and  preserves  the  own- 
er's right  to  recapture  such  fugitive  ?  But  so  it  is. 
The  great  mass  of  the  Northern  people  have  been  edu- 
cated into  the  feeling  that  slaveholders  must  not  be 
allowed  to  carry  back  their  fugitives.  This  feeling  has 
become  a  holy  sentiment,  —  an  item  of  religious  faith 
amongst  Northern  people,  —  a  principle  for  which  they 
are  willing  to  peril  life  and  everything  valuable.  Con- 
stitutions, unions,  laws,  the  highest  hopes  of  a  country 
or  of  mankind,  form  no  barrier  to  the  onward  course  of 
a  religious  idea,  or  a  fanatical  ism.  The  arrest  of 
fugitives  in  Massachusetts  has  been  tried.  The  people 
in  a  mass  arise  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States  1 
The  Supreme  Court  of  that  state  is  appealed  to  (by 
habeas  corpus),  and  its  decision  that  the  law  of  1850  is 
constitutional,  does  not  stay  the  resistance  to  the  owner 
of  the  fugitive.  Those  having  custody  of  the  runaway 
under  process  of  the  general  government  are  beset  by  a 
mob,  and  life  is  sacrificed!  The  sentiment  of  the  people 
arises  against  the  slave  owner  ;  and  the  population,  en 
masse,  go  forth  to  obstruct  a  citizen  of  the  South  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  constitutional  right. 

But  few  of  the  Northern  people  stop  to  consider  their 
position  in  regard  to  the  slave  question,  or  to  note  the 
changes  wrought  in  their  feelings  by  the  insidious  influ- 
ences which  have  been  at  work  upon  them  for  years. 
And  a  smaller  number  still  condescend  to  inquire  into 
the  practical  utility  of  the  measures  they  are  induced 
to  advocate,  or  even  attempt  to  give  any  reason  for 
their  course  but  the  pretended  commands  of  God,  which 
they  cannot  resist ;  not  knowing  whether  their  labors 


340  A   HISTORY    OF 

will  bring  good  or  ill  to  the  objects  of  their  concern. 
Never  on  earth  was  a  moral  movement  urged  forward 
by  the  sons  of  men  with  less  regard  for  consequences 
than  the  anti-slavery  crusade  of  the  present  day.  What 
benefit  to  the  negroes  can  possibly  accrue  from  the 
measures  agitated  by  anti-slavery  philanthropists,  no 
one  can  imagine.  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of 
the  South  would  be  disastrous  to  them.  There  is  no 
disputing  this.  There  is  no  sane  philanthropist  in  New 
England  that  would  to-day  enfranchise  all  the  slaves  in 
the  United  States,  were  the  power  so  to  do  committed 
to  his  hands.  But  Northern  men,  with  a  blindness  and 
prejudice  befitting  idiots,  say  no  slaveholder  shall  come 
upon  Northern  soil  with  his  negro,  and  retain  him  in 
servitude  !  Indeed  !  How  wise  and  pure  !  New  Eng- 
land, whose  money  and  enterprise  transported  Sambo 
from  Africa  to  the  South,  will  probably  escape  account- 
ability by  this  extreme  and  most  holy  horror  of  the  bare 
sight  of  slavery !  No  ;  no  slave  must  be  brought  to  the 
North  !  Slavery  is  well  enough  in  its  place  !  It  would 
be  impossible  to  abolish  it  in  Carolina  or  Georgia  ;  this 
is  forbidden  both  by  the  welfare  of  the  slave  and  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  master ;  but  the  poor  negro 
must  draw  out  his  servile  life  on  those  Southern  planta- 
tions !  The  luxurious  master,  who  annually  spends 
months  at  Niagara,  Saratoga,  the  White  Mountains, 
and  other  Northern  places  of  resort,  must  not  bring  the 
poor  slave  to  catch  a  gleam  of  Northern  happiness  ! 
And  why  ?  The  puritans  of  the  North  cannot  endure 
so  sad  a  sight  as  a  human  being  in  bondage !  Some 
good  to  the  slave  might  result  from  spending  a  part  of 
his  time  in  the  free  states  ;  he  might  come  in  contact 
with  genuine  piety,  which  is  thought  to  be  a  stranger 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  3-11 

in  the  South  ;  he  might  gain  from  intercourse  with 
Northern  philanthropists  much  useful  knowledge,  and 
become  inspired  with  ideas  that,  on  his  return  to  the 
South,  would  be  valuable  to  his  brethren  in.  bondage  ; 
and  that  portion  of  his  life  spent  in  the  North  might  be 
passed  more  happily  than  if  confined  on  the  plantation 
at  home  ;  but  what  holy  Northern  man,  for  the  sake  of 
such  advantages  to  miserable  negroes,  could  think  of 
permitting  the  foul  sin  of  slavery  for  a  moment  to  offend 
his  eyes?  And  if  one  of  these  slaves  escape  to  the 
North,  his  freedom  must  be  upheld  against  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  laws  of  the  land  !  It  is  seen  by  a  glance 
that  in  this  the  benefit  of  the  negro  is  not  consulted, 
but  sacrificed. 

How  long  has  it  been  since  the  North  has  shown  her- 
self so  extremely  cautious  of  her  pure  and  unstained 
skirts  ?  How  long  have  we  been  thus  over-righteous  ? 
Under  Washington  and  our  first  presidents,  masters 
could  bring  their  slaves  at  pleasure,  reside  with  them  as 
long  as  they  pleased,  and  in  case  of  an  escape,  even 
while  residing  in  the  North,  the  fugitive  would  be  re- 
stored by  the  laws  of  the  land.  Under  this  fraternal 
feeling  existing  between  the  citizens  of  different  states, 
Southern  gentlemen  used  to  come  into  the  North  with 
their  slaves  ;  and,  finding  life  pass  pleasantly,  continued 
their  residence  here  for  large  portions  of  the  year.  To 
guard  against  the  abuse  of  this  comity,  —  to  prevent 
legalizing  slavery  by  the  master's  making  the  Northern 
state  his  permanent  residence  under  such  circumstances, 
—  some  of  the  free  states,  to  wit,  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York,  passed  laws  limiting  the  right  of  Southern  gen- 
tlemen coming  North  with  slaves,  to  a  residence  of  six 
and  nine  months,  with  the  privilege  of  retaining  their  ser- 


342  A  HISTORY   OF 

vants.  Should  a  Southern  gentleman  continue  his  resi- 
dence over  nine  months,  it  was  to  be  considered  that 
his  Southern  residence  was  abandoned,  and  his  home 
made  permanent  in  the  North,  and,  consequently,  he 
no  longer  entitled  to  retain  his  slaves.  Can  there  be  a 
doubt  that  such  an  arrangement  was,  in  a  high  degree, 
beneficial  to  both  the  slave  and  his  master  ?  Then 
whence  opposition  to  it  ?  The  objection,  we  are  told, 
is  on  account  of  the  repugnance  felt  by  the  humane  and 
freedom-loving  people  of  the  North  to  the  mere  sight 
of  slavery.  The  whole  movement  upon  this  subject  had 
its  origin  in  the  feelings.  There  is  no  judgment,  no 
conscience,  no  humanity  in  the  matter.  The  sentiment 
of  the  North  has  been  aroused  by  the  wiles  of  an  enemy. 
It  was  the  fortune  or  misfortune  of  Mr.  Webster,  the 
most  upright  and  patriotic  statesman  of  his  age,  to  en- 
counter the  fierce  prejudice  of  the  Northern  people 
upon  this  subject.  In  1852,  but  for  his  stand  upon  the 
rights  of  the  South  to  her  fugitives,  he  would  have  been 
nominated  for  the  presidency.  The  friends  and  followers 
of  Mr.  Seward  defeated  his  claims  in  the  national  con- 
vention ;  and  the  most  that  could  be  urged  against  Mr. 
Webster  was  that  he  had  not  changed  his  position  on 
the  slavery  question,  while  all  around  him  had  embraced 
new  views  and  feelings.  As  an  evidence  of  the  remark- 
able change  that  had  come  over  the  feelings  of  even 
Mr.  Seward,  we  will  quote  his  reply  to  Gerrit  Smith  in 
1838,  when  a  candidate  for  governor  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Smith  demanded  to  know  what  Governor  Seward 
thought  of  the  law  then  existing,  allowing  slaveholders 
to  retain  their  slaves  in  that  state  during  a  temporary 
sojourn ;  and  Mr.  Seward  answered  that  he  was  opposed 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  343 

to  its  repeal.  His  answer  was  such  as  any  candid  man 
would  make,  and  contains  the  following  sensible  re- 
marks : 

"But,  gentlemen,  being  desirous  to  be  entirely  can- 
did in  this  communication,  it  is  proper  I  should  add  that 
I  am  not  convinced  it  would  be  either  wise,  expedient  or 
humane,  to  declare  to  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  Southern  or 
South-western  States  that  if  they  travel  to  or  from,  or  pass 
ttirough  the  State  of  New  York,  they  shall  not  bring  with 
them  the  attendants  whom  custom,  or  education,  or  habit, 
may  have  rendered  necessary  to  them.  I  have  not  been 
able  to  discover  any  good  object  to  be  attained  by  such 
an  act  of  inhospitality.  It  certainly  can  work  no  injury 
to  us,  nor  can  it  be  injurious  to  the  unfortunate  beings 
held  in  bondage,  to  permit  them,  once  perhaps  in  their 
lives,  and  at  most  on  occasions  few  and  far  between,  to 
visit  a  country  where  slavery  is  unknown.  I  can  even 
conceive  of  benefits  to  the  great  cause  of  human  liberty 
from  the  cultivation  of  this  intercourse  with  the  South. 
I  can  imagine  but  one  ground  of  objection,  which  is, 
that  it  may  be  regarded  as  an  implication  that  this  state 
sanctions  slavery.  If  this  objection  were  well  grounded, 
I  should  at  once  condemn  the  law.  But,  in  truth,  the 
law  does  not  imply  any  such  sanction.  The  same  stat- 
ute which,  in  necessary  obedience  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  as  expounded,  declares  the  excep- 
tion, condemns,  in  the  most  clear  and  definite  terms, 
all  human  bondage.  I  will  not  press  the  considerations 
flowing  from  the  nature  of  our  Union,  and  the  mutual 
concessions  on  which  it  was  founded,  against  the  pro- 
priety of  such  an  exclusion  as  your  question  contem- 
plates, apparently  for  the  purpose  only  of  avoiding  an 
30 


344  A   HISTORY   OP 

application  not  founded  in  fact,  and  which  the  history 
of  our  state  so  nobly  contradicts.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  such  an  exclusion  could  have  no  good  effect 
practically,  and  would  accomplish  nothing  in  the  great 
cause  of  human  liberty. " 


THE  WHIG  PARTY.  345 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

CAMPAIGN   OF   1852. THE   PLATFORMS   OF  THE  TWO   PARTIES.  —  ADMIN- 
ISTRATION   OF   PIERCE. — DOUGLAS,  AND  THE  NEBRASKA   MEASURE. — 

EFFORTS   IN   THE   NORTH. REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  —  NOMINATIONS  AND 

ELECTION     OF     '66.  —  CINCINNATI    CONVENTION.  —  FREMONT.  —  ELEC- 
TION  OF   BUCHANAN. —  HIS   ADMINISTRATION,  ETC. 

THE  result  of  the  campaign  of  1852  is  instructive. 
That  General  Scott  was  a  genuine  Whig  no  one  doubted  ; 
but  his  nomination  through  the  influence  of  the  Freesoil 
wing  of  the  party,  his  tacit  recognition  of  the  right 
of  that  wing  to  control  his  political  action,  and  the 
emphatic  and  contemptuous  rejection,  by  those  who 
had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  his  nomination,  of  the 
national  platform  on  which  he  had  been  placed  at  the 
Baltimore  Convention,  shocked  and  disgusted  thousands 
of  national  Whigs,  and  drove  them  into  the  ranks  of 
the  opposition.  Both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  Na- 
tional Conventions  had  approbated  the  compromise 
of  1850  by  their  platforms.  The  champions  of  Scott 
accepted  his  nomination,  but  said,  "  We  spit  upon 
the  platform."  It  was  a  declaration  that  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  Whig  party  were  resolved  to  repudiate  the 
national  principles  of  the  Baltimore  Convention  ;  and  it 
was  not  considered  safe  to  throw  into  the  hands  of 
those  sectionalists  so  powerful  an  instrument  as  the 
presidency.  The  national  Whigs  were  not  prepared  to 


346  A    HISTORY   OF 

exalt  to  that  powerful  station  a  person  who  might,  by 
possibility,  become  the  organ  or  chief  of  a  sectional 
faction.  And  the  support  of  General  Pierce,  by  those 
disappointed  Whigs,  involved  but  a  slight  sacrifice  of 
principle.  General  Pierce  and  the  party  that  nomi- 
nated him  were  unanimous  in  the  support  of  a  platform 
with  scarcely  any  perceptible  difference  from  that  put 
forth  by  the  Whig  National  Convention.  It  is  a  signifi- 
cant fact  that  the  Democratic  party  have,  for  the  last 
twenty  years,  been  drifting  back  into  the  wholesome 
principles  inaugurated  by  Madison  and  Monroe,  from 
which  the  storm  of  Jacksonism  had,  as  has  been  shown, 
driven  them  so  far.  The  acquisitions  from  the  Whigs 
in  1852  and  1856  have  had  a  tendency  to  hasten  the 
return  to  those  conservative  and  valuable  measures  so 
necessary  to  our  country,  and  so  much  desired  by  the 
patriot.  But,  unfortunately,  the  Democrats  in  1852,  as 
well  as  the  Whigs,  adopted,  in  making  their  nomination, 
the  principle  of  availability,  and  bitter  experiences  have 
been  the  result. 

Of  the  administration  of  President  Pierce,  which  is 
of  so  recent  date,  it  is  not  necessary  to  say  much.  But 
few  readers  will  care  to  have  their  opinions  of  that 
administration  revised  at  present.  The  friends  of  the 
general  look  upon  it  as  a  model  one  ;  his  enemies 
regard  it  as  fatally  unfortunate.  Without  impeaching 
the  motives  of  that  President,  which  may  have  been 
upright  and  patriotic,  we  may  say,  with  safety,  that 
the  election,  in  his  place,  of  Buchanan  or  Marcy,  would 
have  saved  the  Democratic  party  from  severe  misfor- 
tunes, if  not  degradation,  and  the  country  from  the 
most  imminent  perils.  That  President  Pierce  was  actu- 
ated by  high-toned  national  sentiments,  most  of  his 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  347 

opponents  concede  ;  that,  with  some  exceptions,  his 
administration  was  conservative  and  judicious,  is  not 
denied.  If  there  were  errors,  they  were  those  of  the 
head  rather  than  of  the  heart.  His  Secretary  of  State, 
Mr.  Marcy,  was  a  statesman  of  first-rate  abilities,  who, 
in  his  administration  of  the  foreign  policy  of  our 
country,  met  the  hearty  approbation  of  every  Whig1. 
A  man  of  unwavering  integrity,  Mr.  Guthrie,  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  department,  quite  to 
the  satisfaction  of  every  well-wisher  of  the  country  ;  and 
a  gentleman  of  known  conservative  principles,  James 
Buchanan,  was  sent  minister  to  the  British  court.  His 
other  secretaries  were  all  able  men. 

But,  as  the  Nebraska-Kansas  bubble  is  not  entirely 
exploded  yet,  and,  like  other  bubbles,  reflects  from  its 
magnificent  sides  so  many  dazzling  hues,  and  still  com- 
mands the  gaze  of  millions  with  trance-like  power,  any- 
thing like  a  calm  and  reasonable  consideration  of  its 
substance  and  importance  could  scarcely  be  expected. 
A  few  remarks  touching  that  subject,  however,  will 
readily  occur  to  every  mind.  The  apparent  object  of 
the  Nebraska  bill  has  failed.  The  origin  of  the  project 
was  attributed  to  the  Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas,  who  had,  in 
1852,  been  a  candidate  for  nomination  to  the  presidency, 
lie  had  made,  so  it  was  said,  almost  superhuman 
efforts  upon  that  occasion  to  secure  his  nomination. 
Such  things  were  charged  against  him  as  the  purchase 
of  the  influence  of  the  Democratic  Review,  and  the 
enlistment  of  office- seekers  in  his  interest  by  liberal 
promises  in  way  of  promotion.  When,  therefore,  the 
Nebraska  bill,  so  called,  repealing  the  Missouri  com- 
promise restriction,  was  brought  forward  in  Congress, 
and  powerfully  championed  by  Mr.  Douglas,  the  North 
30* 


348  A    HISTORY    OF 

were  pretty  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  the  move 
was  political.  It  was  generally  supposed  that  Mr. 
Douglas  was  looking  for  support  in  the  next  National 
Convention  of  his  party.  Kansas  was  a  rich  territory, 
just  opening  for  settlement,  and  it  was  thought  that, 
by  a  removal  of  the  Missouri  restriction,  a  benefit 
would  be  conferred  on  the  South.  Unless  that  act  was 
regarded  as  beneficial  to  the  South,  the  action  of 
Southern  Congressmen  cannot  well  be  explained.  All 
of  the  Democratic  and  many  of  the  Whig  members  of 
the  South  supported  the  Nebraska  bill,  while  it  was 
opposed  by  all  of  the  Whigs  and  a  fair  minority  of  the 
Democratic  members  of  the  North.  It  was  said,  it  is 
true,  that  the  object  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
restriction  was  to  obliterate  that  badge  of  Southern 
inequality  and  oppression  ;  to  wipe  out  a  stain  that  had 
long  rested  upon  Southern  honor ;  but,  when  it  is  recol- 
lected that  that  restriction,  whether  a  stain  or  other- 
wise, was,  by  the  South,  though,  as  an  escape  from 
worse  consequences,  self-imposed,  and  that  by  the  most 
brilliant  statesmen  she  has  ever  produced,  we  can 
hardly  credit  that  by  the  repeal  nothing  was  expected 
but  a  victory  of  empty  honors.  The  proposition  added 
to  the  already  excited  feelings  of  the  North,  and  was 
the  watchword  for  renewed  frenzy.  And  it  was  frenzy, 
and  nothing  else.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  those 
who  then  denounced  the  idea  of  repeal,  and  of  popular 
sovereignty,  now  bless  the  former,  and  glory  in  the 
latter.  The  outcry  of  the  abolitionists  of-  the  North 
against  the  proposed  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise 
was  a  thoughtless  spasm  of  those  who  were  afflicted 
with  a  frightful  disease  of  the  nervous  system.  It  was 
involuntary.  The  judgment  had  no  part  in  the  action. 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  349 

Every  sane  and  sensible  man  in  the  country  sees  that 
the  Missouri  compromise  restriction  was  originally  the 
peace-offering  extorted  from  the  South  by  the  blind 
fanaticism  of  the  North,  and  should,  in  justice,  never 
have  been  exacted  ;  but  still,  the  conservative  men  of 
the  North,  as  they  knew  the  deranged  and  diseased  con- 
dition of  Northern  minds,  and  well  understood  with 
what  excitement  the  reopening  of  that  old  controversy 
would  be  attended,  were  grieved  at  the  step  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  and  highly  incensed  against  him  for  his  course. 
This  movement  of  Mr.  Douglas,  it  was  seen,  was 
embarrassing  to  President  Pierce.  It  appeared  that 
Pierce  had  an  ambition  for  a  reelection,  and  no  doubt 
this  influenced  him  materially  in  his  course.  The  meas- 
ure was  the  subject  of  consultations  in  a  cabinet  that 
was  not  harmonious.  It  was  the  on  dit  that  Mr.  Marcy 
stoutly  opposed  the  scheme  ;  but,  however  that  was, 
President  Pierce  gave  the  Nebraska  bill  his  support, 
and  it  was  passed.  The  result  is  known  to  every  one. 
If  the  South  approbate  Mr.  Douglas'  heart  in  regard  to 
the  measure,  they  must,  by  this  time,  distrust  his  hea9, 
as  that  section  has  been  a  severe  sufferer  by  the  result. 
If  intended  as  an  offering  to  the  South,  the  measure  has 
turned  out  an  acquisition  to  the  North.  However,  the 
greatest  calamity  of  the  transaction  falls  upon  the 
country.  A  new  impulse  was  given  to  the  long  matur- 
ing anti-slavery  feeling  of  the  North,  and  the  two  great 
sections  of  the  country  were  brought  into  collision  with 
each  other.  The  hatred  between  these  sections  is 
becoming  extremely  bitter.  The  excitement  was  fierce 
beyond  precedent.  Those  who  had  been  for  years 
regarded  as  ultraists,  who  had  been  recognized  as  the 
special  enemies  of  the  South,  were,  by  the  commotion 


350  A    HISTORY   OF 

occasioned  by  the  Nebraska  bill,  at  once  thrown  into 
the  lead  in  the  great  popular  movements  that  ensued  in 
the  free  states.  The  American  party  which,  in  ordinary 
times,  would  have  become  firm  and  imposing,  was, 
almost  as  soon  as  formed,  shattered  by  the  spirit  of 
abolition;  and  a  new  —  the  Republican  —  party  was 
formed  under  the  lead  and  auspices  of  the  old  and  long- 
recognized  ultraists  of  the  North.  As  significant  of 
what  this  party  was,  we  may  say  that  Garrisonians  gave 
it  their  sympathies  ;  and  many,  such  as  Wendell  Phillips 
and  Miss  Lucy  Stone,  gave  it  their  support.  Before  the 
breath  of  the  popular  tornado  the  last  vestiges  of  the 
Whig  party  disappeared,  and  the  great  and  powerful 
Democratic  party  was  razed  almost  to  its  foundations. 
A  party  with  fearful  vitality  had  sprung  up  in  the 
North;  it  was  a  party  based  on  fanaticism,  —  such  a 
party  as  made  Cromwell  the  ruler  of  England.  Crom- 
well, it  has  been  said,  affected  Puritanism  for  purposes  of 
power ;  and  we  cannot  say  but  many  of  the  Republican 
leaders  embarked  in  that  sectional  organization  more 
out  of  love  for  office  and  honors  than  from  any  real 
sympathy  with  the  fanatical  feelings  of  their  followers. 
As  to  how  this  is  we  shall  soon  know.  The  presiden- 
tial campaign  of  1860  will  probably  reveal  much  that 
now  can  only  be  conjectured,  and  we  must  desist. 

In  1856,  the  Republican  party  put  in  nomination 
John  C.  Fremont,  a  Southern-born  Democrat.  He  had 
much  celebrity  as  an  explorer ;  and  his  nomination,  it  was 
said,  was  a  suggestion,  "in  a  fit  of  prophetic  fury,"  of 
the  Hon.  N.  P.  Banks,  a  brother  Democrat  of  the  free- 
trade  school.  The  claims  of  Freesoil  veterans  were 
ignored,  and  availability  tried  in  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Fremont.  Mr.  Fremont's  antecedents  were  well  known. 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  351 

He  had  been  a  Democrat  of  the  Young-  America  stamp 
from  his  youth,  and  much  of  his  celebrity  arose  from  his 
coup  de  Fillibusler  in  California.  But  he  was  young 
and  ambitious  ;  and,  as  it  was  of  vast  importance  fcr  the 
Republican  leaders  to  secure  to  their  party  the  presi- 
dency, he  was  put  upon  the  track  with  no  other  capital 
than  a  letter,  in  which  he  had  announced  himself  in  favor 
of  Kansas  becoming  a  free  state.  What  sort  of  Presi- 
dent Mr.  Fremont  would  have  made  it  is  unimportant 
to  consider.  It  was  no  doubt  expected  that  he  would 
be  the  President  of  those  who  should  elect  him.  What 
his  course  would  have  been,  or  what  the  results  of  his 
election,  each  one  may  judge  for  himself. 

The  Democrats  in  1856  made  their  nomination  at  a 
convention  held  at  Cincinnati.  Never  did  such  respon- 
sibilities rest  upon  a  party  convention  in  America  as 
rested  upon  the  Democratic  Convention  of  1856.  The 
conservative  feeling  in  America  looked  to  it  as  the  hope 
of  the  country.  The  ambition  and  efforts  of  Mr.  Pierce 
and  of  Mr.  Douglas  for  nomination  were  well  known, 
and  regarded  with  unfeigned  apprehensions.  It  was 
viewed  as  almost  certain  that  neither  of  these  gentle- 
men could  save  the  country  from  the  impending  calamity 
of  the  election  of  a  sectional  President ;  and  when  the 
news  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  nomination  was  conveyed  by 
the  telegraph  wires  throughout  the  land,  a  sensation 
of  relief  and  high  gratification  thrilled  the  heart  of 
every  conservative  patriot. 

The  presidential  campaign  of  1856  was  one  that 
should  never  be  forgotten,  although  another  such  should 
never  be  desired.  The  Kansas  bubble  -was  blown  to 
still  grander  proportions,  and  was  the  only  capital  on 
which  the  election  of  Fremont  was  sought  to  be  effected. 
A  description  of  that  bubble  must  not  be  expected  here. 


352  A   HISTORY   OF 

It  is  enough  to  say  that,  from  an  early  period  of  tho 
Kansas  troubles,  it  was  perfectly  apparent  that  she 
was  destined  to  be  free.  At  the  time  of  the  election  of 
delegates  to  the  Lecompton  Constitutional  Convention, 
there  were  about  nine  thousand  registered  voters  in  the 
territory,  of  which  but  about  two  thousand  were  in 
favor  of  slavery.  In  electing  those  delegates,  scarcely 
any  but  those  pro-slavery  men  voted,  the  free-state 
voters  remaining  away  from  the  polls.  But  with  such 
a  vast  preponderance  of  voters  in  favor  of  freedom, 
there  cannot  be  any  doubts  about  the  final  condition  of 
that  territory  in  regard  to  slavery.  Whatever  may 
have  prompted  the  Freesoil  electors  in  submitting  to  the 
triumph  of  pro-slavery  delegates  in  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but,  sooner  or  later, 
slavery  will  be  excluded  from  Kansas. 

The  waves  of  fanaticism  found  a  barrier  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Pennsylvania.  The  triumph  of  abolition  was 
prevented  by  those  states  that  border  upon  the  slave 
states.  The  silly  delusions  of  Northern  fanatics  have 
made  but  little  impression  upon  those  people  who  live 
upon  the  borders  of  slavery,  and  who  really  know  what 
opinion  to  entertain  in  regard  to  negroes  and  their 
masters.  The  furor  of  the  Northern  mind  in  respect  to 
negro  servitude  is  in  consequence  of  its  gross  ignorance 
in  regard  to  the  objects  of  its  gratuitous  sympathy. 
The  southern  part  of  Ohio,  where  the  institution  is 
understood  and  appreciated,  repudiated  with  indigna- 
tion the  cant  of  British  philanthropy  ;  and  the  common 
sense  and  patriotism  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  gave  a 
sturdy  check  to  fanaticism.  The  patriot  of  Wheatland 
occupies  the  presidential  chair,  and  old  and  new  aspir- 
ants are  busy  at  work  in  laying  their  respective  tracks 
for  the  race  of  1860.  The  active  scenes  occasioned  by 


THE    WHIG   PARTY.  353 

the  labors  of  these  gentlemen  but  little  disturb,  it 
seems,  the  placid  temper  of  the  President.  They  did 
annoy  him  much,  for  a  while,  in  regard  to  the  admission 
of  Kansas.  His  best  endeavors  to  secure  the  people  of 
that  territory  equal  rights  were  thwarted  by  factionists, 
and  that  people  are  made  to  suffer  by  the  intrigues  of 
politicians  ;  but,  as  her  overwhelming  preponderance 
of  free-state  voters  over  those  in  favor  of  slavery 
clearly  negatives  the  idea  that  she  can  ever  be  made  a 
slave  state,  the  prospect  of  making  her  longer  the  foot- 
ball of  politicians  is  discouraging.  All  that  is  needed 
to  restore  the  measures  which  once  made  the  country 
prosperous  and  happy,  is  peace  from  the  sectional  anti- 
slavery  spirit  which  has,  for  a  long  time,  been  distract- 
ing the  country,  and  occupying  the  minds  of  our  legis- 
lators to  the  exclusion  of  higher  and  nobler  objects. 
The  efforts  of  our  present  President  to  allay  this  fiend 
of  discord  are  appreciated  by  the  considerate  and  pat- 
riotic. No  one  denies  Mr.  Buchanan  eminent  patriot- 
ism and  statesmanship  ;  and  every  lover  of  his  country 
must  rejoice  that  a  man  of  so  much  worth  and  ability  is 
at  the  head  of  our  government.  In  his  administration 
we  see  the  efficacy  of  intelligence  and  self-reliance,  and 
the  importance  of  elevating  to  the  highest  office  in 
our  gift  men  of  superior  ability.  When  Mr.  Douglas 
attempted,  under  Mr.  Buchanan,  to  repeat  the  Nebraska 
experiment  in  his  Lecompton  move,  we  see  that  the 
unconcern  of  the  President  contrasted  strangely  with  the 
anxieties,  jealousies,  and  fears  of  his  predecessor  under 
similar  circumstances.  The  President  relied  upon  his 
own  judgment,  and  encountered  the  opposition  of  the 
little  giant  with  little  loss  of  sleep  or  of  political  influ- 
ence with  the  better  class  of  our  people. 


354  A   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  REPUBLICAN,  AMERICAN  AND    DEMOCRATIC  PARTIES.  —  THEIR  FEAT- 
URES   AND    CHARACTERISTICS.  —  DEMOCRATIC    THE    ONLY    NATIONAL 

PARTY.  NECESSITY     OF    A    NATIONAL    CONSERVATIVE     OPPOSITION, 

WITHOUT  WHICH  THAT  PARTY  MUST  SOON  BECOME  SECTIONAL.  —  WHIG 

PRINCIPLES,  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  OLD  WHIG  PARTY  CONSIDERED. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY,  ETC.,  ETC. 

ON  the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party,  the  Whigs 
who  remained  true  to  their  principles  found  that  there 
was  no  party  in  existence  with  which  they  could  cor- 
dially connect  themselves.  The  Democratic  party  re- 
mained substantially  unchanged.  Its  principles  and 
tendencies  were  known.  In  many  of  its  measures  it 
differed  from  Whig  policy  ;  and  its  tactics  were  not 
in  accordance  with  Whig  sentiments.  Although,  at 
that  time,  on  the  question  that  was  shaking  the  country 
to  its  centre,  —  the  question  which  was  paramount  for 
the  moment  to  all  others,  —  the  Whig  sympathized  with 
the  Democrat,  and  saw  that  the  safety  of  the  Union 
depended  on  cooperation,  it  was  upon  that  great  na- 
tional question  only  that  fellowship  with  the  Democracy 
was  hearty  and  cordial.  The  Democratic  party  is  com- 
posed of  discordant  elements,  and  is  held  together 
by  a  principle  that  could  never  be  available  in  the  Whig 
party.  There  are  in  the  Democracy  conservative  and 
progressive  elements,  which  are  so  blended  and  united 
as  to  give  conservatism  more  life,  and  to  divest  agrari- 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  355 

anism  of  its  aggressive  and  revolutionary  power.  In 
that  party  the  highest  patriotism  and  most  accomplished 
statesmanship  come  in  contact,  under  the  momentum 
characteristic  of  great  forces,  with  the  fiercest  dema- 
gogism  ;  but,  not  meeting,  as  in  the  Whig  party,  in  a 
direct  line  of  opposition,  but  obliquely,  the  force  of  each, 
though  increased,  is  modified.  If  either  act  for  a  while 
in  excess,  if  occasionally  the  demagogue  power  get  the 
ascendency,  the  patriotic  element  does  not  expire  ;  but, 
providentially  favored  by  outside  influences,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  antagonism  of  the  Whig  party,  is  for- 
tunate in  regaining  an  equilibrium.  The  existence  of 
a  conservative,  enlightened  and  patriotic  opposition 
party  is  the  necessary  condition  of  the  existence  of  the 
Democracy  as  a  national  party.  The  extinction  of  the 
Federal  organization,  during  the  administration  of  Mon- 
roe, led  to  the  dismemberment  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  1824,  and  the  complete  overthrow,  under  the  dema- 
gogic Jackson-Van-Buren  dynasty,  of  the  political 
measures  established  under  the  administrations  of  Mad- 
ison and  Monroe.  Although,  as  now  constituted,  the 
Democratic  party  is  national,  its  nationality  is  by  no 
means  likely  to  be  of  long  continuance  in  the  absence 
of  a  national  opposition. 

There  are  at  present  arrayed  against  the  Democracy 
but  two  parties,  —  the  Republican  and  the  American,  — 
neither  of  which  is  a  national  party,  supported  in  all 
parts  of  the  Union  by  persons  entertaining  a  similarity 
of  opinions  and  sentiments  on  national  questions.  The 
Republican  party,  formed  in  1855,  after  the  passage  of 
the  celebrated  Kansas  or  Nebraska  Act,  was  not,  at  its 
creation,  intended  as  a  National  organization.  The  old 
Whig  party  had  become  much  degenerated  from  its 
31 


356  A   HISTORY   OP 

original  purity  and  tone  ;  and,  at  the  first  clang  of  the 
bugle  of  the  pretentious  disorganize!-,  the  mass  of  its 
adherents  broke  the  ranks  for  new  banners.  At  the  very 
instant  that  the  preservation  of  Democratic  conservatism 
required,  more  than  usual,  the  stability  and  the  confront- 
ing and  resisting  power  of  their  old  national  adversaries, 
and  at  the  moment  when  Democracy,  from  the  triumph 
of  its  demagogue  element,  had  shocked  its  conservatism, 
and  had  thus,  on  account  of  the  disturbance  of  its  ele- 
ments, endangered  its  safety,  and  offered  the  opposition 
an  advantageous  opportunity  for  victory,  the  ancient 
Whig  party  itself  was  rent  asunder  by  the  spirit  of  fanat- 
icism, as  described  in  a  former  chapter.  In  1852  the 
Democracy  was  an  overwhelming  party,  carrying  all  the 
states  of  the  Union  but  four.  The  administration  of 
President  Pierce  had  not  expired  before  the  free  states 
were  all  substantially  under  the  control  of  the  opposi- 
tion. By  the  Nebraska  measure,  which  resulted  in  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  administration 
justly  forfeited  the  confidence  of  the  country ;  and,  in 
1856,  but  for  the  frightful  aspect  of  that  "lower  deep" 
opened  by  the  fanaticism  of  Republicanism,  the  Demo- 
cratic party  would  have  been  swallowed  up  in  ruin. 
Destruction  was  averted  only  by  the  folly  and  madness 
of  the  opposition.  But,  although  ruin  was  thus  stayed, 
the  doom  due  that  awful  iniquity  yet  awaits  the  party, 
and  will  overtake  it,  unless  it  make  living  sacrifices  upon 
the  altar  of  violated  justice.  The  reappearance  of  the 
Whig  party  would  find  the  Democracy  with  that  Cain- 
mark  upon  its  brow.  The  author,  or  at  least  the  chief 
engineer,  of  the  Nebraska  measure  through  the  two 
houses  of  Congress,  having  failed  in  1856,  through  the 
insanity  of  Republicanism,  to  destroy  his  party,  has 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  357 

since,  with  a  peculiar  tact  for  destructive  concep- 
tions, so  adjusted  his  course  as  to  render  the  overthrow 
of  the  Democracy  certain  in  1860.  His  Southern 
extremes,  which,  in  1856,  failed  to  consummate  his  pur- 
poses, will  be  surrendered  in  1860  for  the  trial  of  an 
appeal  to  Northern  prejudices.  The  Democratic  party, 
it  appears,  is  threatened  with  a  division.  If  its  con- 
servative and  patriotic  elements,  in  case  of  such  dis- 
ruption, can  be  made  available  to  the  country  by  the 
reorganization  of  the  Whig  party,  the  ascendency  of 
sectionalism  may  be  prevented. 

The  Republican  party  was  formed  by  the  union  of 
men  of  all  parties  ;  it  only  professed  to  unite  those 
agreeing  in  sentiment  on  the  slavery  question.  Its 
ranks,  consequently,  embrace  people  of  all  varieties  of 
political  faith.  Mr.  Fremont,  like  many  other  Dem- 
ocrats, North  and  South,  announced  himself  of  the 
opinion  that  Kansas  should  be  left  free  to  settle  her 
own  domestic  institutions,  and  exclude  slavery,  if  she 
should  think  proper ;  and,  in  consequence  of  his  some- 
what liberal  position  on  that  topic,  ,was  deemed  by 
the  Republicans  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency. His  Southern  birth  and  thorough-bred  Democ- 
racy did  not  seem  to  disqualify  him  for  the  support  of 
Northern  Whigs.  Many  of  the  most  influential  leaders 
in  the  Republican  organization,  as  well  as  their  candi- 
date for  the  presidency,  were  of  the  Democratic  school 
in  politics.  The  rallying  cry  was,  "  Those  opposed  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.'7  Many  Whigs  recoiled  with 
horror  from  all  connection  with  such  a  party.  Not  that 
any  Whig  was  more  in  favor  of  the  extension  of  slavery 
into  the  territories,  by  the  general  government,  than 
Mr.  Fremont,  or  the  best  Republican  at  his  back  ;  but 


358  A   HISTORY   OF 

the  idea  of  the  formation  of  a  party  based  on  the 
slavery  question  could  not  be  entertained  for  a  moment 
by  one  imbued  with  genuine  Whig  sentiments.  In  the 
nature  of  things,  such  a  party  must  be  sectional,  and 
calculated  to  engender  the  most  bitter  and  violent  sec- 
tional animosities.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  and  not- 
withstanding the  Republican  party  was  headed  by  the 
most  violent  anti-slavery  men,  and  was  warmly  sup- 
ported by  many  open  and  leading  disunionists, — that  its 
conventions,  its  platforms,  its  resolves,  its  orators  and 
editors,  continually  abounded  in  fierce  denunciations  of 
the  South,  of  Southern  institutions,  of  the  fugitive 
slave  law,  and  of  slaveholders,  thus  breathing  a  danger- 
ous sectional  spirit,  many  honest-hearted  Whigs,  for 
the  moment  outraged  by  the  wanton  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  and  indignant  at  what  they  regarded 
a  breach  of  faith  by  the  South,  suffered  themselves  to  be 
led  into  that  combination,  which  can  hardly  be  dignified 
with  the  title  of  party.  The  step  was  rather  the  effect 
of  passion  than  of  the  reason  ;  and  many,  in  acting  with 
the  Republicans,  feeling  the  impropriety  of  such  an 
organization,  premised  the  act  with  the  declaration, 
"  We  will  go  with  them  this  time."  We  are  sorry  to 
record  this,  —  to  be  obliged  to  show  that  a  Whig  was 
ever  moved  by  his  feelings  to  act  in  defiance  of  his 
judgment ;  but,  in  taking  that  rash  step,  we  feel  grate- 
ful to  him  for  first  surrendering  the  Whig  name.  It 
is  riot  for  a  moment  to  be  credited  that  Whigs  can  con- 
tinue to  be  members  of  a  sectional  party ;  and  it  is 
easily  perceived  that  Republicanism  offers  them  no  con- 
genial home. 

The  American  can  never  be  a  substitute  for  the  Whig 
party.     Many  of  its  leaders  are  exalted  statesmen  and 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  359 

patriots  ;  but  it  lacks  nationality  and  consistency. 
Many  of  its  teachers  and  high  officers  in  the  North, 
while  they  claim  equality  for  the  negro, — the  most 
ignorant  and  degraded  of  all  the  races  of  the  earth,  — 
exhibit  great  jealousy  and  suspicion  of  their  intelligent, 
economical  and  virtuous  German  brother,  who  brings 
from  the  father-land  that  love  of  home  arid  that  patriot- 
ism peculiar  to  the  Teutonic  heart.  In  the  North,  the 
American  is  the  advocate  of  personal  liberty  bills,  and 
•an  opponent  of  fugitive  slave  laws  ;  while  in  the  South 
he  may  be  a  conservative,  or  even  an  ultra-slavery  prop- 
agandist. North  and  South,  East  and  West,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  American  party  may  be  concurrent  in  their 
views  upon  the  subject  of  naturalization  laws,  as  applied 
to  all  races  but  that  of  Africa,  called  the  negro  ;  but 
there  is  not  much  agreement  between  them  on  the  most 
of  political  topics.  The  question  of  the  reformation  of 
our  naturalization  laws  is  hardly  a  fit  basis  for  a  party 
organization. 

Thus  we  see  that  neither  the  Democratic,  the  Repub- 
lican, nor  the  American  party  will  answer,  to  the  Whig, 
as  a  substitute  for  the  genuine  Whig  party.  The  feel- 
ings of  each  Whig  will  instinctively  teach  him  this. 
And  what  could  be  more  proper  and  advisable  than  the 
reorganization  of  that  estimable  and  highly  respected 
party?  When  this  is  asked,  only  the  interests  of  the 
country,  and  the  satisfaction  and  pleasure  of  the  Whigs, 
are  considered.  The  name  is  excellent,  suggestive  of 
intelligence,  virtue  and  patriotism.  When  spoken  of 
here,  the  Whig  party,  as  it  existed  in  this  country  dur- 
ing the  last  years  of  its  existence,  is  not  referred  to. 
Success,  the  prospects  of  success  even,  proved  too 
much  for  its  poor  human  nature,  as  constituted  in  its 
31* 


360  A   HISTORY   OF 

latter  days.  When,  therefore,  we  speak  of  Whig  prin- 
ciples, we  have  in  mind  the  party  as  it  appeared  in  its 
period  of  purity. 

The  Whig  party  of  old  caught  its  inspiration  from  the 
spirit  of  the  founders  of  our  institutions,  and  derived 
its  principles  from  those  statesmen  and  patriots  over 
whose  counsels  the  great  and  good  Washington  pre- 
sided ;  and,  when  viewed  in  its  purity,  discloses  none 
of  the  appearances  of  art  and  policy,  contrived  for  the 
captivation  of  the  masses,  by  pandering  to  their  pas- 
sions and  prejudices. 

Although  we  have  a  Democratic  party,  and  our  gov- 
ernment is  becoming  in  effect  democratic,  it  is  clear 
that  a  democracy  was  not  intended  by  the  framers  of 
our  institutions.  The  reader  needs  not  be  told  that  a 
democracy  is  a  government  where  measures  are  adopted 
by  the  direct  vote  of  the  people.  Of  course  such  a 
government  cannot  exist  saving  in  small  states  that 
will  admit  of  the  assemblage,  for  the  purpose  of  legisla- 
tion, of  all  the  people  into  one  forum.  Such  for  a  while 
was  the  government  of  ancient  Athens.  The  people 
were  rulers,  and  ruled  in  their  assembled  omnipotence, 
without  the  aid  of  senates,  legislatures  or  monarchs. 
The  popular  will,  expressed  by  the  vote  of  a  popular 
assembly,  was  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  The 
workings  of  that  Athenian  Democracy  are  familiar  to 
every  school-boy.  If  wisdom,  and  virtue,  and  justice, 
are  now  the  possessions  of  the  people,  and  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  masses,  they  were  not  the  attributes  of 
the  people  of  Athens.  The  men  most  noted  for  virtue, 
talents  and  patriotism,  were  banished,  by  popular  vote, 
from  the  state  ;  and  her  purest  citizens  fell  victims  to 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  361 

the  fanaticism   of  the  ignorant  multitude.     The  story 
of  the  ancient  democracies  is  a  sad  one. 

Although  not  flattering  to  the  too  much  flattered 
"  dear  people,"  it  must  be  owned  that  the  absurdity  of 
the  democratic  system  is  glaring.  In  all  communities 
are  intelligence  and  ignorance,  virtue  and  vice  ;  and 
there  never  yet  was  a  very  large  country  in  which  polit- 
ical wisdom  resided  in  the  majority  of  its  people,  and 
probably  such  a  spectacle  will  never  be  witnessed. 
Thorough  discipline  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  facul- 
ties is  the  rare  achievement  of  the  few  ;  and  of  the 
highly  cultivated,  the  number  of  those  that  fathom  the 
principles  of  the  Constitution  of  their  country  is  still 
less.  The  authors  necessary  for  a  comprehension  of 
the  principles  of  our  government  are  never  seen  by  one 
out  of  a  thousand  of  the  American  people.  The  writings 
of  Adams  and  Jefferson  are  found  in  large  libraries,  and 
are  perused  by  but  few.  The  able  and  interesting 
essays  by  Hamilton,  Madison  and  Jay,  —  essays  that 
afford  a  masterly  exposition  of  republican  institutions 
and  their  tendencies,  —  although  published  under  the 
title  of  "The  Federalist/'  and  purchased  by  the  wealthy, 
are  far  from  being  a  popular  or  common  work.  The 
profound  and  lucid  treatise  on  the  Constitution,  by 
Judge  Story,  one  of  our  most  illustrious  American 
jurists,  a  son  and  ornament  of  Massachusetts,  and  the 
glory  of  his  age,  has  probably  never  been  heard  of  by 
the  great  mass  of  the  voters  in  the  United  States.  The 
"  Madison  Papers/'  as  they  are  called,  being  his  minutes 
of  the  debates  in  the  convention  that  framed  the  Consti- 
tution, —  a  work  that,  as  by  a  window,  throws  light  into 
the  very  framework  of  that  structure;  an  authentic 
document  that  gives  an  accurate  key  to  the  meaning  of 


362  A     HISTORY   OF 

its  founders  on  all  the  exciting  questions  so  flippantly 
settled  at  the  present  day  by  the  million  ;  a  sure  guide 
to  its  spirit  and  force,  —  is  found  in  the  libraries  of  con- 
gressmen and  some  scholars  ;  but  as  a  guide  to  political 
action  is  never  heard  of  by  the  tens  of  thousands  whose 
education  in  such  matters  is  from  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  and 
kindred  works.  To  govern  the  country;  to  adopt  ap- 
propriate measures  for  developing  its  resources,  for  reg- 
ulating our  foreign  trade,  establishing  and  maintaining 
diplomatic  intercourse  with  other  nations,  adjusting  a 
system  of  duties  to  afford  revenue  and  protection,  car- 
rying forward  suitable  works  of  internal  improvement, 
protecting  and  managing  the  public  property,  govern- 
ing and  preserving  the  navy,  etc,  etc.,  require  such 
intelligence  as  only  long-continued  and  attentive  applica- 
tion can  furnish  ;  and,  to  be  plain  and  honest  in  the  mat- 
ter, will  the  reader  please  state  the  proportion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  that  have  ever  given  them- 
selves any  trouble  upon  any  of  these  subjects  ?  The 
masses  of  our  people  are  not  so  well  posted  on  public 
measures  as  were  the  ancient  Athenians,  for  the  reason 
that  those  Athenians,  before  voting  upon  any  question, 
heard  full  discussions  by  their  orators.  It  was  quaintly 
remarked  by  Anacharsis,  a  Scythian  traveller,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  at  Athens  when  some  measure  was  debated 
by  her  orators,  and  decided  by  the  assembled  masses  : 
"  This  is  a  queer  country,  where  the  wise  men  discuss 
important  measures  of  government,  and  the  ignorant 
decide  them  !  "  And  the  remark  made  at  Athens  some 
two  thousand  years  ago,  by  the  shrewd  Scythian,  in  re- 
gard to  the  system  of  the  Athenian,  is  equally  applica- 
ble now  to  the  American  Democracy,  which,  for  the 
voice  of  an  independent  congress  of  our  choicest  and 


THE   WHIG    PARTY.  363 

wisest  men,  would  substitute  the  voice  or  incongruous 
voices  of  the  ignorant  masses,  as  gathered  from  all  sec- 
tions, and  borne  into  the  national  legislature  by  repre- 
sentatives who  consider  the  discharge  of  such  duties  a 
calling  sufficiently  high  and  honorable,  provided  the 
salary  be  remunerative ! 

The  founders  of  our  institutions  sought  to  place  them 
on  a  different  basis,  and  secure,  in  the  governing  power, 
the  highest  intelligence,  ripest  wisdom,  and  most  ex- 
alted virtue  of  the  country.  Even  the  executive,  those 
founders  intended,  should,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  college  of  electors,  be  chosen  by  a  select  number 
of  the  soundest  men  the  states  could  produce  ;  and,  to 
shape  our  policy,  frame  our  laws,  and  guard  our  rights 
at  home  and  abroad,  it  was  intended  that  the  legisla- 
ture should  be  composed  of  our  wisest,  best,  and  most 
experienced  men  ;  and  that  their  wisdom,  and  not  the 
prejudices  of  party,  should  at  all  times  prevail  in  the 
national  councils. 

To  realize  and  carry  out  these  objects,  contemplated 
by  the  founders  of  our  institutions,  is  the  chief  aim  of 
Whig  principles ;  and  all  resorts  to  sectional  interests 
and  local  jealousies,  and  all  appeals  that  are  calculated 
to  render  the  people  the  judges  of  what  our  institu- 
tions intend  shall  be  left  to  the  unbiassed  judgment  of 
their  representatives,  are  in  direct  hostility  to  the  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  the  Whig  party. 

The  slightest  reflection,  after  even  a  superficial  ob- 
servation of  the  condition  of  our  country,  will  satisfy 
any  candid  person  of  ordinary  ability  that  the  recon- 
struction of  the  Whig  party  is  indispensable  to  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Union.  The  Democratic  party,  though  now 
national,  if  left  to  the  sole  opposition  of  the  Republican, 


364  A   HISTORY   OF 

which  is  a  sectional  party,  must  inevitably,  sooner  or 
later,  itself  degenerate  into  sectionalism.  This  must  be 
the  necessary  result  of  such  antagonism.  And  there 
are  thousands  now  in  the  Democratic,  Republican,  and 
American  parties,  who  are  longing,  with  the  impatience 
of  the  repentant  prodigal,  for  the  appearance  of  a  new 
organization,  in  whose  congenial  bosom  they  may  find 
repose  from  their  wanderings. 

But,  as  will  at  once  be  seen  by  all,  a  party  based  on 
intelligence  and  moral  worth  will  be  liable  to  encounter 
the  jealousies  of  the  ignorant  and  vicious,  and  must  most 
of  the  time  be  in  the  minority  of  the  country,  and  much  of 
the  time  exceedingly  small.  This  the  Whigs  see,  and 
readily  accept  the  conditions  of  their  existence.  It  is 
not  their  study,  their  purpose,  to  shape  their  politics 
for  their  own  interests.  The  acquisition  of  office,  for 
the  honors  and  emoluments  thereof,  forms  no  part  of  the 
inducements  that  should  constitute  one  a  Whig.  The 
party  was  conceived  in  the  loftiest  patriotism.  The 
good  of  the  country,  and  that  alone,  was  contemplated. 
In  the  pursuit  of  so  noble  an  object,  self-sacrifice,  rather 
than  sell-interest,  was  the  inspiration  of  each  hqart. 
An  office-seeker  in  the  ranks  of  the  true  Whig  party 
would  be  an  anomaly.  As  the  elevation  of  the  incom- 
petent and  unworthy  to  high  offices  of  trust  is  never 
imagined  by  the  Whig,  a  proper  stimulant  is  offered  to 
ambition  for  improvement,  and  the  attainment  of  supe- 
rior excellence.  Those  who  embrace  that  party  must 
do  so  prompted  by  purely  patriotic  emotions  ;  must 
enter  its  ranks  without  hopes  of  personal  advancement. 
In  the  hearts  of  true  Whigs  reigns  an  ardent,  abiding, 
and  intelligent  patriotism  ;  as  all  political  association 
and  action  are  prompted  solely  by  the  love  of  country. 


THE   WHIG  PARTY.  3G5 

By  intelligent  patriotism,  is  meant  that  noble  love  of 
country  which,  as  developed  through  the  culture  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  nature,  becomes  an  absorbing 
passion.  There  have  been  sublime  examples  of  such 
patriotism  in  both  ancient  and  modern  times.  Brutus, 
whose  inflexible  devotion  to  his  country  impelled  him  to 
yield  his  paternal  to  his  patriotic  feelings,  and  execute 
his  own  son  for  treason  against  the  state,  is  a  notable 
case  of  Roman  virtue.  But  nothing  in  ancient  history 
so  well  illustrates  our  idea  of  a  true  Whig,  as  the  life  and 
character  of  that  noble  Athenian,  Aristides.  The  life 
of  that  great  man  is  full  of  instances  evincing  a  love  of 
justice  and  of  country  superior  to  all  considerations 
of  self.  It  will  be  recollected  that,  amongst  the  Demo- 
crats of  Athens,  the  competition  for  office  was  as  fierce 
as  ever  manifested  in  the  United  States,  and  that  office- 
holders were,  by  their  competitors,  subjected  to  criti- 
cism, detraction,  and  every  species  of  abuse.  From  the 
accounts  given  us  by  history,  it  appears  that  the  more 
exalted  the  virtue  of  the  statesman,  the  surer  were  his 
rivals  to  bring  upon  him  the  jealousy  and  hatred  of  the 
people.  This,  though  occasioned  by  an  attribute  having 
the  effect  of  a  law  of  nature,  is,  in  fact,  owing  to  a  weak- 
ness of  human  nature  which  is  almost  universal, —  a 
weakness  that  has  ever  subjected  the  innocent  blind  to 
the  wiles  of  the  subtle  and  crafty.  Intelligence  has 
always  rendered  its  possessor  an  object  of  suspicion  and 
fear  to  the  ignorant ;  and  we  see  that,  in  all  ages  and 
countries,  superior  wisdom  and  worth  have  been  obliged, 
so  far  as  popular  influences  have  been  felt,  to  give  place 
to  persons  more  on  a  level  with  the  multitude.  But 
Aristides,  by  a  life  of  marked  self-sacrificing  probity, 
became  so  distinguished  for  equity  as  to  acquire  from 


366  A  HISTORY   OF 

the  people  of  Athens  the  title  of  The  Just.  As  an  in- 
stance illustrative  of  the  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  people,  the  reader  will  recollect  that  his 
fellow-citizens  had  become  so  accustomed  to  refer  to 
him  their  disputes,  that  it  was  finally  made  a  grave 
charge  against  him,  by  those  envious  of  his  position, 
that  he  was  usurping  the  occupation  of  the  courts,  which, 
iii  consequence  of  him,  were  left  deserted !  And,  not- 
withstanding his  uprightness  and  justice  were  eminent, 
while  he  had  the  care  of  the  government  treasury,  he 
was  charged  with  frauds,  peculations,  and  all  kinds  of 
corruptions.  Such  things  are  common  in  all  countries. 
In  this  country  we  have  rarely  had  an  administration 
that  has  not  been  accused  of  such  corruptions ;  and  the 
reader  will  readily  recollect  the  solemn  and  specific 
charges  brought  against  our  American  Aristides,  Web- 
ster, by  a  Mr.  Ingersoll.  But  the  officers  of  our  gov- 
ernment have  better  facilities  for  vindicating  their 
honesty,  in  the  care  of  government  funds,  than  had  the 
chief  treasury-officer  of  the  Athenian  Democracy.  Aris- 
tides, who  was  charged  with  the  custody  and  disburse- 
ment of  the  revenues  of  his  state,  necessarily  had  under 
him  many  subordinate  officers,  such  as  collectors,  sub- 
treasurers,  and  pay-masters.  As  in  ail  the  Eastern 
nations,  these  revenue  officers  had,  time  out  of  mind, 
been  oppressors,  peculators,  and  plunderers.  The  an- 
cient systems  of  raising  and  collecting  revenues,  put  it 
in  the  power  of  the  farmers  thereof,  or  collecting  officers, 
to  despoil  the  people,  and  to  defraud  the  state,  there 
having  been  no  check  but  in  the  superior  of  the  depart- 
ment. As  might  have  been  expected,  the  vigilance 
which  Aristides,  when  at  the  head  of  the  treasury, 
exercised  over  his  officers,  raised  against  him  their 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  3G7 

united  hostility.  Though  his  integrity  was  the  only 
real  cause  of  complaint  by  his  enemies,  they  commenced 
and  kept  up  against  him  a  constant  clamor  for  pecula- 
tion !  So  large  was  their  number,  so  numerous  and 
respectable  their  connections  and  associations,  and  so 
extensive  their  relations  and  influence  with  society,  that 
their  united  and  continued  accusations  were  injurious 
even  to  Aristides.  He  was  publicly  accused  and  tried 
in  presence  of  the  democracy  of  Athens,  and  convicted ! 
The  witnesses  against  him  were  those  under-officers 
whose  falsehoods  there  were  no  means  of  exposing.  But 
the  sense  of  justice  of  the  better  part  of  the  Athenian 
public  was  shocked  at  the  outrageous  decision.  The 
sentence  was  not  only  stayed,  but  he  was,  by  the  active 
interposition  of  the  best  of  the  Athenians,  continued  in 
his  office.  After  this  trial,  it  is  said  that  Aristides 
seemed  less  vigilant  in  regard  to  the  frauds  of  his  sub- 
officers,  and  appeared  not  to  notice  their  corruptions  ; 
and,  as  a  consequence  of  his  easy  administration,  his 
character  for  integrity  was  restored.  His  accusers  be- 
came his  eulogists  and  warm  supporters,  and  solicited 
from  the  people  his  continuance  in  his  responsible  trust. 
As  the  people  of  Athens  were  about  to  confer  that  trust 
again  upon  him,  he  indignantly  rebuked  them,  saying: 
"  While  I  managed  your  finances  with  all  the  fidelity 
of  an  honest  man,  I  was  loaded  with  calumnies ;  and 
now,  when  I  suffer  them  to  become  a  prey  to  public 
robbers,  I  am  become  a  mighty  good  citizen  ;  but,  I 
assure  you,  I  am  more  ashamed  of  the  present  honor 
than  I  was  of  the  former  disgrace ;  and  it  is  with  indig- 
nation and  alarm  that  I  see  you  esteem  it  more  merito- 
rious to  oblige  a  set  of  corrupt  office-holders,  than  to 
take  proper  care  of  the  public  revenue/' 
32 


368  A   HISTORY   OF 

That  our  country  abounds  in  patriotism  no  one 
doubts  ;  but  in  how  much  intelligent  patriotism  ?  And, 
if  not  intelligent,  is  that  virtue  of  much  value,  especially 
in  a  republic  ?  Like  paternal  love,  the  love  of  country, 
unless  enlightened,  may  be  the  ruin  of  its  object.  Un- 
less judicious,  the  son  but  little  profits  by  his  parent's 
affection.  And  of  what  avail  to  the  state  is  the  blind 
passion  called  love  of  country,  unless  its  sphere  be  illu- 
minated by  the  light  of  a  cultivated  understanding,  and 
all  the  duties  incident  to  its  nature  be  brought  into 
exercise,  and  be  enforced  ?  The  duties  of  patriotism  are 
many  and  severe  ;  but  who,  from  the  commencement  to 
the  close  of  his  life,  concerns  himself  in  regard  to  them? 
As  a  general  rule,  we  think,  with  the  masses  of  our 
citizens  private  affairs  chiefly  occupy  the  mind  and 
engage  the  attention,  to  the  almost  total  disregard  of 
public  duties.  Who  are  to  take  care  of  the  republic  ? 
Who  are  to  watch  over  its  necessities,  its  interests,  and 
its  perils  ?  Who  can  tell  ?  Who  feel  concern  for  the 
general  welfare, —  the  public  weal, —  and  take  pains  to 
obtain  the  information  necessary  for  its  protection  ? 
This  one  is  disturbed  about  the  rights  of  a  fugitive 
negro  from  a  Virginia  plantation  ;  that  one  is  exercised 
with  grief  in  view  of  the  habits  of  his  fellow-citizens  in 
matters  of  drink  ;  and  on  their  specialities — temperance 
and  slavery,  two  subjects  profoundly  mastered  by  large 
numbers  —  each  is  ripe  for  public  action.  Many  people 
have  heard  much  of  protection,  and  will  vote  for  none 
but  tariff  men  ;  while  others,  struck  with  the  sound  free, 
in  the  term  free  trade,  will  only  support  such  as  are 
in  its  favor.  One  party  will  not  support  a  candidate 
not  in  favor  of  the  extension  of  our  national  boundaries ; 
another  is  equally  intent  on  adhering  to  our  country  as 


THE  WHIG   PARTY.  369 

now  bounded,  without  any  enlargement  of  its  area. 
On  several  subjects  the  ideas  of  certain  people  are 
fixed,  and  their  support  is  a  matter  of  passion.  These 
ideas,  whatever  they  may  be,  have  become  a  bias ; 
their  advocacy  a  matter  of  feeling ;  and  the  candidate 
is  expected  to  be  as  much  their  slave  as  is  the  deluded 
elector  himself.  The  elector,  or  voter,  may  be  native 
or  foreign  born,  wise  or  ignorant,  competent  to  judge 
intelligently  on  political  subjects  or  not ;  it  is  all  the 
same  ;  he  will  trust  no  officer  not  pledged,  by  a  liberal 
amount  of  professions,  to  sustain  his  views.  The  im- 
propriety of  bringing  down  to  such  mental  vassalage 
superior  intellects  seems  to  be  felt  and  tacitly  acknowl- 
edged by  the  multitude,  in  the  general  distrust  enter- 
tained of  great  men  as  the  champions  of  popular  ideas. 
The  candidate,  the  representative,  must  be  one  not 
capable,  by  possession  of  great  abilities,  of  transcend- 
ing in  action  the  intellectual  sphere  of  his  constituents, 
and  of  being  actuated  by  motives  and  reasons  beyond 
their  comprehension  or  appreciation.  He  must  be  their 
representative  in  every  respect.  He  may  drag  out 
long  sessions  in  Congress  ;  may  listen  to  able  arguments 
by  his  colleagues ;  may,  by  resort  to  congressional 
libraries,  and  by  researches  into  the  statistics  of  his 
country,  and  by  mastering  works  of  political  economy, 
get  better  and  more  satisfactory  light  on  many  subjects 
than  he  ever  before  enjoyed  ;  but  such  must  prove  vain 
acquisitions.  The  prejudices  of  his  constituents,  and 
not  the  light  evoked  in  halls  of  legislation,  must  be  his 
guide  ! 

The  consequence  of  our  democratic  tendencies  is,  that 
our  national  legislature  reflects  the  local  prejudices  of 
every  section  of  the  land ;  is  a  mirror,  that  reflects  not 


370  A   HISTORY    OF 

only  the  education  of  our  statesmen,  but  the  schools, 
also,  in  which  they  are  tutored.  Each  member,  instead 
of  being  a  representative  in  contemplation  of  the  Con- 
stitution, is  rather  a  specimen  of  his  constituents. 
Instead  of  a  long  and  patient  investigation  of  the  varied 
interests  of  the  country,  —  of  endeavoring  to  master  the 
principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  ascertain  their  appli- 
cation to  legislative  measures,  —  of  making  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  numerous  questions  of  political 
economy,  —  the  representative  only  finds  it  necessary  to 
learn  to  echo  the  predominant  and  perhaps  temporary 
feeling  or  whim  of  his  constituents  ;  and  the  acquisition 
of  a  knowledge  of  their  prejudices  is  all  the  political 
education  he  finds  necessary  to  enable  him  to  fill  his 
post  with  entire  satisfaction  to  his  electors. 

The  Whig  idea  was  the  original  one  observed  in  the 
construction  of  our  institutions  ;  and  this  would  place 
the  representative  in  the  national  legislature  free  to  act 
in  accordance  with  the  conclusions  of  his  unbiassed 
judgment.  Legislation  is  the  exercise  of  a  trust  power, 
whose  scope  is  not  any  single  congressional  district, 
but  the  whole  Union.  The  practice  of  holding  members 
obedient  to  local  views  and  prejudices,  in  effect  changes 
our  government  from  a  representative  republic  to  a 
democracy.  Instead  of  vesting  the  executive  and  legis- 
lative power  in  the  hands  of  persons  selected  on  account 
of  their  being  most  noted  for  wisdom  and  virtue, 'the 
ignorant  and  prejudiced  virtually  take  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  legislation  into  their  own  hands,  and  all  that  is 
required  of  their  member  is  to  see  their  purposes  car- 
ried out.  Any  other  than  the  Whig  system  must  lead 
to  fatal  consequences.  In  times  of  great  political 
excitement,  especially  when  sectional  controversies  run 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  371 

high,  it  is  very  clear  that  people  of  such  diversified  and 
opposing  interests,  as  those  associated  in  our  Union, 
could  riot  long  remain  united  under  institutions  which 
are  democratic  in  spirit.  The  people  of  Boston,  Mass., 
or  Charlestown,  S.  C.,  may  think  themselves  safe  in 
holding  their  representatives  to  a  strict  compliance  with 
local  views  and  feelings  ;  but  it  must  be  evident  to  the 
shallowest  perceptions  that  without  the  freedom  of  a 
higher  stand-point  in  legislation  ;  without,  where  in- 
terests are  really  conflicting,  some  latitude  for  compro- 
mise, or  the  privilege  to  the  legislator  of  basing  his 
decisions  on  principles  of  justice  in  view  of  the  interests 
of  all  sections,  when  duly  examined  and  weighed,  a 
conflict  of  sections  must  inevitably  take  place.  It  is  in 
view  of  such  considerations  as  these  that  the  Whig 
remains  what  is  called  an  "  old  fogy."  In  times  of 
"  remarkable  political  acti\7ity,"  as  elegantly  expressed 
by  the  leading  Republican  journal  of  the  country,  not 
to  make  any  advance  with  the  popular  tide  is  cause  of 
grave  reproach  by  those  who  are  dancing  in  the  foam 
upon  the  very  crest  of  the  billow.  The  more  igno- 
rance the  more  zeal  ;  as  in  proportion  as  the  reason  is 
dormant  the  passions  predominate.  Under  the  play 
of  skilful  agitators,  the  masses  will  warm  themselves 
into  a  sectional  warfare  much  faster  than  the  more 
experienced  and  thoughtful,  and  will  naturally  enough 
be  disposed  to  repose  more  confidence  in  the  young  and 
ardent  champion  of  reform,  whose  sympathies  are  with 
them,  than  in  those  who,  although  of  more  experience, 
knowledge  and  natural  ability,  are  less  progressive, 
and  too  little  inspired  by  the  astonishing  "political 
activity77  of  their  time. 

Hence,   as  our  government  can    only  exist   on    the 
32* 


372  A    HISTORY    OF 

basis  on  which  it  was  founded,  and  by  carrying  out 
the  principles  of  its  organization  ;  as  its  creation  is 
perceived  to  have  been  a  compromise,  all  sections  yield- 
ing individual  rights,  and  surrendering  advantages  for 
the  security  and  good  of  the  whole  ;  as  the  adoption 
of  democratic  principles  —  that  is,  leaving  to  the  people 
of  each  section  to  legislate  or  decide  on  national  meas- 
ures —  was  seen  by  its  founders  to  be  impracticable, 
and  the  general  government  made  to  absorb,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  all  local  jurisdictions  ;  as  the  national 
legislature  was,  under  the  qualifications  expressed  in 
the  Constitution,  created  with  power  absolute  and 
unquestionable  ;  and  as  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions 
the  members  should  be  considered  as  the  officers,  not  of 
any  locality,  but  of  the  whole  nation,  charged  with 
the  duty  of  legislating  for  the  best  good  of  the  whole, 
it  is  the  duty  and  peculiar  mission  of  the  Whig  to  stand 
up  as  a  barrier  against  the  popular  tide  which  the 
breath  of  demagogues  has  put  in  motion  ;  to  use  his 
best  efforts  to  resist  the  tendency  of  the  country  to 
sectionalism  ;  to  endeavor  to  allay  the  strife  of  sectional 
feelings,  which  is  already  so  fierce  in  the  country  and  in 
Congress,  and  to  make  the  utmost  exertions  to  restore 
to  the  administration  of  the  general  government  those 
national  principles  on  which  it  was  founded.  There  is 
in  his  mission  something  noble  —  something  grateful 
to  the  heart  of  the  intelligent  patriot  and  philanthropist. 
He  has  not  the  gratification  of  a  present  passion  in 
view  ;  but  crushes  out  and  sacrifices  private  feelings  and 
interests,  and  compromises  with  antagonistic  views,  to 
secure  the  stability  of  the  country,  develop  its  resources, 
and  place  its  future  on  a  safe  and  enduring  basis.  His 
ideas  are  not  formed  on  partial  views,  nor  inspired  by 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  373 

local  interests  ;  but  are  liberal,  enlarged,  comprehen- 
sive, and  are  the  growth  of  long-continued  and  mature 
reflection,  drawn  not  only  from  a  close  examination  of 
his  own  country,  but  also  from  the  contemplation  of  it 
as  one  of  the  great  family  of  nations  ;  from  an  observa- 
tion of  the  feelings,  interests,  aims  and  machinations  of 
surrounding  monarchies  and  despotisms,  the  natural 
enemies  of  republics ;  and  a  study  of  the  dangers,  the 
perils,  within  and  without,  that  beset  the  path  and 
cloud  the  future  of  his  beloved  republic. 

The  Whig  is  not  a  professional  alarmist,  but  still  deems 
it  wholesome  to  keep  the  dangers  that  surround  his 
country  constantly  before  his  eyes.  The  epithet, 
"  Union-saver/7  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  sectional- 
ists  as  a  slur,  he  accepts  as  a  compliment.  Not  that  he 
would  arrogantly  assume  patriotic  achievementst  but 
the  attempted  slur  virtually  accords  to  him  patriotic 
motives.  It  imports  that  he  has  paid  attention  to  the 
solemn  warnings  of  the  FAREWELL  ADDRESS,  and  that  the 
manifestation  of  fear  —  unnecessary  fear,  if  the  reader 
pleases  —  for  the  safety  of  our  Union,  indicates  love  for 
it.  He  is  not  so  shallow  as  to  believe  that  his  beloved 
country  is  entirely  safe  and  free  from  perils,  when  he 
sees  abroad  every  power  on  earth  arrayed  against  it, 
and  at  home  beholds  its  integrity  and  unity  assailed 
and  warred  upon  by  hordes  of  enemies,  open  and  dis- 
guised. He  loves  his  country  ;  he  praises  God  contin- 
ually for  its  bestowal  upon  him ;  he  looks  upon  it  as 
the  richest  gift  ever  before  bestowed  upon  man  ;  and 
that  his  heart  should  bound  in  the  very  excitement  of 
alarm,  when  the  lightest  blow  is  aimed  at  its  safety, 
should  not,  by  the  honest  and  worthy,  be  made  the  sub- 
ject of  jesting  remark.  And  when  this  is  with  impunity 


374  A   HISTORY   OF 

done,  we  think  the  cause  of  free  institutions  is  not  very 
auspicious. 

The  Whig  cannot  force  his  mind  into  the  view  that 
the  administration  of  government  is  a  fit  subject  for  po- 
litical huckstering ;  that  the  whole  matter  is  but  a  mere 
game  of  party  politics,  with  no  nobler  objects  than  the 
acquisition  of  place.  He  looks  on  government  as  some- 
thing more  than  the  mere  arrangement  or  adjustment 
of  temporary  interests  ;  as  something  more  than  present 
protection,  even ;  he  views  it  as  the  exercise  of  a  trust 
conferred  upon  him  from  above  ;  he  regards  govern- 
ment itself  as  something  bestowed  on  him  as  the  reward 
for  moral  and  intellectual  excellence,  and  which  can 
only  be  preserved  by  the  cultivation  and  continuance 
of  the  virtues  for  the  reward  of  which  it  was  bestowed. 
And  regarding  his  institutions  so  rare  and  precious, 
the  Whig  is  astonished  and  shocked  that  any  citizen 
should  for  a  moment  be  so  thoughtless  and  reckless  as  to 
suffer  the  "  first  dawnings  7;  of  a  spirit  that  may  imperil 
their  stability  to  go  unrebuked.  He  catches  his  inspir- 
ation from  the  Farewell  Address,  and  shares  the  solici- 
tudes and  anxieties,  in  regard  to  the  future,  of  the  great 
and  good  Washington,  and  recoils  with  horror  from 
those  partisans  who  with  treasonous  hands  minister  at 
the  altar  of  sectional  discord. 

Many  may  think  the  Whig  not  sufficiently  hopeful ; 
but  what  has  he  to  encourage  him  ?  He  is  not  lulled 
into  apathetic  confidence  by  the  cheering  expression, 
"Freedom  is  universal;  slavery  is  local."  For  the 
Whig  does  not  look  solely  at  the  present  time,  nor  does 
he  limit  his  view  to  one  section  of  the  globe,  for  lessons 
of  instruction  and  grounds  of  hope  ;  he  searches  the 
records  of  human  history  for  the  boasted  universality 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  375 

of  liberty,  and  finds,  throughout  the  great  track  of  time, 
scarcely  a  trace  of  its  footsteps ;  but,  in  its  stead,  crush- 
ing, bloody,  and  continued  despotism.  In  Asia,  Europe 
and  America,  the  record  of  human  history  is  a  bloody 
and  a  sad  one  ;  and  the  Whig  sees  nothing  in  its  count- 
less pages  to  excite  his  hopes  in  regard  to  his  own 
country.  In  glancing  his  eye  over  the  world,  it  first 
rests  on  the  Celestial  Empire,  so  called,  which  has  for 
untold  centuries  groaned  under  a  despotism  that  has 
extinguished  from  the  heart  and  minds  of  a  nation,  em- 
bracing almost  a  third  of  the  human  family,  the  last 
hope  or  even  thought  of  liberty.  There  he  sees,  swayed 
by  one  man,  three  hundred  millions  of  human  beings, 
who  seek  no  law  but  his  imperial  will,  and  who,  regard- 
ing him  as  not  less  than  a  deity,  repose  in  peace  under 
his  rule.  Then  fall  under  his  vision  the  Indies,  with 
their  different  castes  and  races  ;  their  successive  dynas- 
ties ;  a  peculiar  people,  from  the  earliest  dawn  of  his- 
tory steeped  in  the  most  abasing  superstitions  ;  a  theo- 
cratic despotism,  the  features  of  which  are  reflected  in 
the  bloody  rites  of  Juggernaut ;  a  system  of  rule  based 
on  the  bigotry  of  the  people,  and  fashioned  by  the  all- 
moulding  craft  of  kings,  lords,  and  priests,  who,  from  ages 
unknown,  have  revelled  on  the  sweat  and  blood  of  the 
masses;  —  the  Persian  and  Assyrian  dynasties,  under 
which  billions  of  people  have  been  the  instruments  and 
supports  of  luxurious  and  lustful  despots  ;  people  who, 
under  the  divine  teachings  of  their  priests,  became  the 
easy  and  yielding  victims  of  oppression,  with  no  pre- 
tensions, no  aspirations  for  freedom,  and  no  efforts  to 
acquire  it ;  —  the  Hebrew  dynasties,  —  the  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth, —institutions  delivered  from  on  high,  a  pre- 
cious gift  to  a  precious,  a  peculiar  people,  for  their  own 


376  A   HISTORY   OF 

benefit;  institutions,  by  the  terms  and  spirit  of  which 
all  other  races  were  but  fit  subjects  of  Hebrew  servi- 
tude ;  institutions  under  which  that  people  were  vouch- 
safed more  than  usual  freedom,  until  overthrown  by  the 
factions  engendered  by  uncompromising  Jewish  bigotry, 
and  thus  the  first  glimmerings  of  liberty  on  earth  extin- 
guished by  the  hot  breath  of  fanaticism  ;  —  Egypt,  whose 
pyramids  are  monuments  of  immemorial  generations  of 
slavery  and  priestly  domination  ;  a  land  that  for  more 
than  five  thousand  years  has  never  even  had  a  dream 
of  freedom ;  —  Europe,  ancient  and  modern,  whose  count- 
less billions  of  civilized  and  barbarous  peoples  have  pre- 
sented an  almost  unbroken  scene  of  riotous  passion, 
brutal  lust,  fierce  fanaticism,  blind  bigotry,  and  bloody 
oppression ;  whose  best  states,  in  their  most  palmy 
days,  have  only,  as  in  a  disturbed  dream,  shaken  off 
a  single  for  the  substitution  of  a  horde  of  tyrants ; 
chasing  away  a  rapacious  king  for  a  democracy  still 
more  rapacious ;  and  whose  numerous  races  and  peo- 
ples at  the  present  day,  from  the  huge  Russian  despot- 
ism on  the  East,  to  the  luxurious  lords  of  the  British 
isles  on  the  West,  are  but  the  beasts  of  burden  that 
bear  upon  their  backs  a  banded  brotherhood  of  kings, 
flanked  by  a  consuming  priesthood,  and  the  most  crush- 
ing aristocracy  the  world  has  ever  beheld  ;  millions  of 
the  children  of  idleness  and  pleasure  entrenched  with 
irresistible  power  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  downtrod- 
den and  toiling  masses,  and  whose  great  and  principal 
concern  in  life  is,  by  aid  of  holy  alliances  and  quiritru- 
ple  treaties,  to  perpetuate  security  to  themselves  and 
their  descendants  ;  —  the  numberless  hordes  that  inhabit 
the  African  continent,  fifty  millions  in  number,  that  have 
for  ages  lived  in  degradation  and  crime  ;  —  the  cannibals 


THE   WHIG   PARTY.  377 

of  the  Eastern  isles  ;  —  the  savage  tribes  of  North  and 
South  America  ;  —  the  scarcely  animated  lump  of  mortal- 
ity of  the  extreme  North,  the  stupid  Esquimaux,  and 
the  scarcely  human  form  of  the  uncouth  Patagonian,  of 
the  extreme  South  ;  —  yes,  turn  his  view  where  he  may, 
and,  not  only  at  the  present  day,  but  during  all  past 
ages  of  the  world,  in  all  parts  and  sections  of  the  earth, 
he  sees  that  men  have  been  divided  into  hostile,  barba- 
rous and  warlike  families,  and  that,  as  compared  with 
the  whole,  the  civilization  of  the  past  has  been  confined 
to  but  a  small  speck  of  the  human  family.  He  sees,  he 
feels,  he  cannot  help  feeling,  that  the  republic  of  the 
United.  States  is  the  marvel  of  time,  —  the  miracle  of 
earth,  —  a  shrub  that,  like  the  century  plant,  may  bloom 
at  stated  periods,  but  the  intervals  are  of  such  countless 
ages  as  to  leave  its  nature  unknown.  Where  in  history 
have  we  the  description  of  anything  like  this  republic? 
And  it  is  yet  but  in  its  infancy.  It  has  been  styled  an 
experiment ;  and,  guided  by  the  history  of  the  world  in 
the  formation  of  their  apprehensions,  our  fathers  may 
well  have  trembled  for  its  success.  At  first  small  and  fee- 
ble, and  now  but  a  speck  upon  the  globe,  —  but  twenty- 
five  millions  of  freemen  out  of  the  ten  hundred  millions 
of  human  beings  that  inhabit  the  earth  1  Arid  still  the 
Whig  is  sneered  at  for  regarding  free  institutions  as  a 
fit  matter  for  solicitude  !  No  !  the  Whig,  with  his  most 
enthusiastic  political  opponent,  has  confidence  in  the 
mission  of  his  beloved  country,  and  joins  in  the  universal 
faith  of  his  countrymen  ;  but  without  works,  faithful, 
intelligent,  and  unremitting  works,  he  has  no  right  to 
expect  that  faith  to  be  a  living  and  saving  power. 


